Sohail blames poor batting for losses

KARACHI: Lahore Qalandars moved to Abu Dhabi with six points to their credit. And there they won initial two games on June 9 and 10 against Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators, respectively. It seemed at that stage that they would easily seal a playoff spot. But they lost the next four games and found themselves on the brink of elimination.

And Qalandars’ skipper Sohail Akhtar sees batting failures behind the below-par showing of last year’s runners-up. “Yes, T20 cricket is a game of momentum. We had got a good momentum but our batsmen flopped at once and we could not get the sort of batting performances which we wanted,” Sohail said after his team faced a huge 80-run defeat at the hands of Multan Sultans on Friday.

After opting to bowl first, Lahore reduced Multan to 141-8 with 15 balls left but Sohail Tanvir scored 24 runs from the last over of the innings, bowled by Haris Rauf, to take his side to a fighting 169-8.

Lahore were then folded for 89 in the 16th over. And that brought their net run-rate down heavily.

Sohail said they opted to bowl first to exploit early moisture on the pitch. “There was moisture on the wicket when we saw it before the game started and we tried to utilise it by opting to bowl first. Our bowlers bowled well overall but we flopped in batting and that hurt us,” Sohail said.

“We are just thinking about how our batsmen will regain form and let’s see what happens onwards,” the dejected skipper said.

He lamented that his own performance was not up to the mark in batting. “As captain I should have performed. I could not do what I wanted,” he said.

Sohail scored 149 in the entire season, playing innnings of 40, 7, 34, 0, 21, 5 in the Abu Dhabi leg.

He said he had full power as a skipper. “I have been fully supported by the management. They authorised me to lead the side in my own style,” Sohail said.

He said that restrictions due to Covid affected them mentally. “It was mentally tough to live in this situation as for almost a month we have been facing restrictions due to Covid and because of this I feel there is a little bit of mental stress, but overall facilities are very good,” Sohail said.