Akram rues Akmal’s butter-fingers after Zalmi lose title

KARACHI: Kamran Akmal has a habit of falling from grace. During his Pakistan career, he rose to the status of batting hero only to fall to zero because of his knack for dropping sitters.

His Pakistan Super League (PSL) stint suffered a similar fate on Sunday night.The league’s highest-scorer in the lead up to the final was touted as Peshawar Zalmi’s biggest gun against the in-form Islamabad United.

But Kamran flopped miserably, scoring just 1 off 9 balls as Zalmi crashed to a three-wicket defeat in the final played in front of over 30,000 fans at Karachi’s National Stadium.That was not all. The stumper hurt his team’s cause just when Zalmi were sneaking in when he dropped a catch at a crucial stage.

Later, Mohammad Akram, Peshawar’s coach, lamented that things could have been different for his team had Kamran taken the catch of Asif Ali. The pressure could have shifted, the coach felt.

Kamran dropped Asif at a time when Islamabad had lost six wickets in quick succession. In the very next over, Asif hit Peshawar pacer Hasan Ali for three sixes in an over to finish the job for Islamabad.

However, despite the loss Akram said that he was proud of Zalmi.“A few of our players were injured at the start of the tournament; Bravo, Hasan Ali, Shakib ul Hasa, Haris Sohail all were injured. Boys really worked really hard to get into the final. All credit to them,” he told reporters after the final.

Akram rejected the impression that his team lost because of Kamran’s early dismissal.“No team is dependent on one player, all the 11 players have a role in it. Kamran’s contribution has been very important, he remained our key player. Obviously, an in-form batsman not scoring runs affected us but it’s a team game,” he said.

Meanwhile, JP Duminy who captained Islamabad United in the absence of their injured skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, savoured his team’s famous victory.“I will always remember this victory,” the South African said.

Duminy was confident that many foreign players will now want to come and play PSL matches in Pakistan.The left-hander said he was “proud of the love we received from the Pakistani people”.

Duminy was over the moon following Islamabad’s title-winning triumph.“It was an unbelievable experience despite being under a lot of pressure”.Duminy said that it was because of a team effort that United triumphed in PSL 3 for its second title in three attempts.“The boys performed well. [And everyone] played well in the whole tournament — be it foreigners or the young Pakistani boys,” he stressed.