LAHORE: Karachi Kings’ debutant right-handed opener Muhammad Akhlaq was pleased with his match-winning half-century knock against Lahore Qalandars in the last group fixture of the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight.

Akhlaq, who was adjudged the player of the match for his magnificent 51 which powered the Kings to a competitive total, interacted with the media and expressed his satisfaction with his brilliant performance.

“I’m thankful to Almighty Allah for granting me respect in my debut match. I felt really good to play for Karachi Kings,” said Akhlaq.

“I’ve played for Islamabad [United] and Karachi [Kings] and enjoyed my time being in both sides and also learn a lot. But in Karachi [Kings], the Almighty Allah granted with respect,” he maintained.

The right-handed batter then commented on the Kings’ campaign in the PSL 8 and asserted that few close losses and below-par death bowling dented their march to the playoffs.

“Our team was outstanding but we’ve been unlucky in this tournament as we lost most of the matches by close margins. So, I think it was just bad luck. Things were going well but we couldn’t get satisfactory results in the end,” Akhlaq said.

“The prime reason behind our defeats was that we were struggling in the death bowling, we couldn’t bowl well in the last five overs of the innings,” he added.

It is worth mentioning that after Akhlaq propelled the Kings to 196/7 the Kings’ bowlers crushed the Qalandars’ batting unit to script a resounding 86-run victory.

The dominating victory over Qalandars in their final PSL 8 fixture lifted the Kings to finish in fifth spot as they finished with six points in 10 matches.

READ: Akhlaq, bowlers power Karachi Kings to thrash Lahore Qalandars