LAHORE: Karachi Kings’ head coach Johan Botha summed up his team’s campaign in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight and termed skipper Imad Wasim’s red-hot form as one of the positives for the former champions.
Head coach Botha, in an interview on the sidelines of the Kings’ final PSL 8 fixture against home side Lahore Qalandars, pragmatically highlighted the shortcomings and positives for the Kings before praising skipper Imad for his brilliance with the bat throughout the season.
“I think Imad batted well as I’ve ever seen him bat. So, he’s obviously had a purple patch in the tournament and in the batting point of view, he has been outstanding,” said Botha.
The Kings’ head coach then mentioned other key performers for his side in the PSL 8 and highly rated the significant contributions of James Vince, Mohammad Amir and Irfan Khan Niazi.
“James Vince for short period was excellent. I think Niazi for an emerging player, put his name out there. He’s a really talented player, an excellent fielder and he’s shown little glimpses,” shared Botha.
“Amir was bit with niggles, hot and cold but you can never question his commitment to the team. He was excellent whenever he was on the field. So hopefully, in the future, we can have him 100 per cent fit for all 10 games. He’s still a star performer,” he maintained.
Kings’ coach Botha then went on to assert that some close losses hurt the team’s campaign in the ongoing season and barred them from qualifying for the playoffs.
“We obviously had a couple of close losses and that’s gonna hurt you someway along the line. We lost three games with single figures and we lost another two games [by a close margin],” stated Botha.
“It’s been that close but at the end of the day that doesn’t get written at the end of the tournament and unfortunately we’re one of the teams that won’t be making it to the playoffs,” he concluded.
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