Pollard rates HBL PSL among top T20 events

KARACHI: West Indies master blaster Kieron Pollard had heard a lot of good things about Pakistan and that made him curious to visit the cricket-mad country.

The 31-year-old had never visited Pakistan, but the Pakistan Cricket Board and Peshawar Zalmi convinced him to do so this time for HBL PSL. “I have heard great things about Pakistan and I am definitely loving my visit since I have landed,” Pollard told psl-t20.com. “It’s my first visit, so it’s a great feeling.”

Pollard, part of Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans (in earlier HBL PSL editions) before joining the yellow storm from Peshawar, said he is being well looked after in the Zalmi camp.“The (Zalmi) camp has been super-friendly with the management being really supportive. The boys have gelled in almost no time and it was great to have (Darren) Sammy and (Andre) Fletcher in the side,” said Pollard.

The all-rounder, a globe-trotter in terms of playing in Twenty20 leagues, put the HBL PSL among the top events. “The PSL is always a great experience for me and I definitely rate it as one of the top leagues in the world in terms of competitiveness,” said Pollard. “It has grown into a great asset and most of the players want to become part of this league,” he said.

Pollard said the HBP PSL, like other leagues, is a factory for producing and polishing raw talent. “We can see that most of the upcoming talent into the Pakistan cricket team is from the PSL and from Peshawar Zalmi squad, I believe Sameen Gul and Ibtisam Sheikh are the boys to watch out for,” said Pollard.Sameen is a fast bowler, while Sheikh is a leg-spinner.“All the youngsters are great, but the upcoming fast bowlers in the PSL have impressed me a lot.”