Tahir overjoyed at Sultans’ victorious start

KARACHI: Expressing happiness over Multan Sultans’ win over Karachi Kings in their HBL PSL-6 show on Thursday at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, South African leggie Imran Tahir said that it was a much-needed win for them.

“Yes, thanks God, it’s a good start for us. This victory was very important for us. Karachi are a very good side and were playing well,” Tahir said after the match.

Multan on Thursday night defeated Karachi Kings by 12 runs, their second win from six games.

Tahir removed Martin Guptill and Najeebullah Zadran, both on 11 each, after Sharjeel Khan got run out, which put a lot of pressure on the defending champions who were then restricted to 164-6 while chasing 177.

“Every team is good in competition and it depends on the day and I think today we performed better and especially the batters set up the tone,” said Tahir, who finished with figures of 2-27 in four overs. “We tried our best as it was difficult to defend. I think the wicket was a little bit better. I give credit to Babar. He is a world class player and he played really well,” Tahir said.

He agreed that losing Martin Guptill damaged Karachi Kings’ cause. “They had to go because the average was mounting. Martin is a very good player and I think it was a big wicket. I think bowlers did well and I think they got rewarded in the end,” Tahir said.

“I think it was a good cricketing pitch and we enjoyed it. We are working hard. We got a week to train and luckily we had the reward,” said Tahir.