Lahore Qalandars head coach Aaqib Javed says that it is unfortunate his team did not qualify for the Pakistan Super League 2021 playoffs.
“The batsmen have disappointed me, which is very unfortunate,” he said.
Last year, in PSL 5, the Lahore Qalandars qualified for the finals. This year, however, despite a good performance at the start of PSL 6 and then in Dubai, the Qalandars could not qualify for the playoffs.
Javed said he had a strong team. “You can’t pick better players than that in the draft,” he said.
“We had players from the national team. We chose players with talent. We even started off the tournament well, but the way it has ended is very disappointing. No one thought that the Lahore Qalandars wouldn’t qualify this time,” he said.
Javed shared that the top five batsmen didn’t make a single 50 in six matches. He said the team couldn’t expect to win if the top five players didn’t make runs.
Whenever Sohail Akhter played an innings of over 40 runs, the Qalandars won in Abu Dhabi, but no player was up to the mark after that, he pointed out.
“We had Fakhar Zaman. Mohammad Hafeez was experienced. Zeeshan Ashraf played as well. Agha Salman was given a chance. Ben Dunk had been scoring well too.”
The head coach the fire power of bowlers could have been utilised better to win the matches had the top batsmen played well.
“These are the same batsman who scored good runs in the first matches. But then our senior and experienced batting flopped. We faced disappointment because of our batsmen,” the disgruntled coach said.
For Javed, none of the players gave a satisfactory performance despite no major challenges in the matches. He said the batsmen did not extend the strike rate or save wickets and that they kept getting knocked out.
“I know everyone is holding me responsible,” he said. “I knew in the end it would be Aqib Javed’s fault.”
The former cricketer said he tried to make the strongest team in the draft with Samin Rana and a better team than this couldn’t have been made.
“We provided facilities. We gave training. We provided the time. Now I have to put all the responsibility on myself.”
Javed talked about the many changes made to the management and the inclusion of many competent nationals and foreigners.
He also addressed some of the criticism against himself.
Many fans of the Lahore franchise are of the opinion that Javed should be replaced. But Javed said replacing him won’t do any miracles because someone has to manage the team.
Javed commented on Multan Sultan’s player Shahnawaz Dahani and Sohaib Maqsood’s performance after six years.
“He [Shahnawaz Dahani] has the energy. He is enjoying cricket. Even in bad performances, he doesn’t get upset and he stays relaxed. That is the secret to his success. He is the bright future.”
Regarding the selection process for the Pakistan cricket team, Javed said decisions for the national team should not be made based on the performance of just one PSL tournament.