Sultans’ bowling needs improvement, says Azhar

KARACHI: Multan Sultans bowling coach Azhar Mahmood feels that they have enough depth in their batting but they lack strength in bowling upfront which needs to be improved.

“We lack in bowling,” he said after Multan Sultans were downed by Peshawar Zalmi by six wickets in a crunch clash of the HBL PSL 2021 here on Tuesday night.

“We had put on a good total but still we were ten runs short. The ball also kept skidding. Our bowling looked a bit inexperienced but this is just the start of the event and we will make an effort to bring improvement in the same area,” Azhar said.

“If you win the toss you get more margin of success. Unfortunately there was a bit of dew on the surface. In the start wicket looked good but in the second innings the ball started to skid on, the outfield was so fast and those shots which went through the gaps yielded more runs,” said Azhar, a former international all-rounder.

“In the last match, too, we conceded a lot of runs in the 19th over and it happened again in this match. We have to find a solution,” Azhar appended.

He praised the spirited paceman Shahnawaz Dhani who made his debut for Multan on Tuesday, removing Rutherford and Kohler in one over but conceding 24 runs in his last over which was the second last of the innings that decided the game in favour of Zalmi.

“The way he bowled and the way he kept a smile on his face, I think it’s phenomenal,” Azhar said. “We had two emerging boys. We had given a chance to Mohammad Umar in the first game and Dhani in this because we wanted to test both bowlers how they perform in pressure situations so that we could form our combination for the rest of the event,” he said. “The way Dhani bowled against Kamran Akmal and the courage he showed I think it’s a great sign for Pakistan and Multan as well. What we need to do is to work on his skills a little bit as he is future of Pakistan cricket,” he said.

Commenting on Multan’s batting, Azhar said: “We have a strong batting line-up. We have top-class six batsmen and in the lower order we have pinch-hitters in Carlos Brathwaite, Shahid Afridi and Sohail Tanvir.

“In bowling we are a bit weak. We are not playing Imran Tahir due to dew factor. But hopes are there as Usman Qadir bowled well today and Shahid Afridi had done well with the ball in the previous game and these are good signs for us and will improve the things,” Azhar observed.

“We have experienced bowlers in Sohail Khan and Imran Khan but we want to test our youngsters where they stand. If we work on them I hope we will be able to create a strong bowling unit,” he said.

“Last year we had a good start to the tournament but this season we are down. It’s a matter of momentum and where you win a game it builds your confidence,” Azhar said.

About his team’s future strategy, he said they will see various options according to conditions.

“We will have to look at our bowling combination. We also have matches in day time where spinners will be more effective and so we will see which combination suits us,” Azhar signed off.