KARACHI: Quetta Gladiators’ captain has put his weight behind Umar Akmal despite his consecutive batting failures in the ongoing PSL season 8. 

“Umar Akmal is a very talented cricketer,” said Sarfaraz in a post-match press conference after Quetta Gladiators beat Karachi Kings on Saturday.

“Every player has to go through such good and bad phases,” he said about Akmal who scored 11 and 4, respectively in the first two matches of the PSL 8. “If he can spend a bit more time on the crease, it will definitely help us.”

Talking about his hard-fought win last night, Sarfaraz gave full credit to his fast bowlers for drifting the game away from Karachi Kings in the death overs.

“Credit goes to Naseem and Hasnain, the way they bowled 18th and 19th over. We played superbly with both bat and ball in the last five overs of each inning,” he said.

When asked whether he would make any changes to the team after consecutive batting failure, Gladiators’ captain believed that their batting combination looked perfect and he would rather give some time to his batters to settle in.

“Out top-order is known for playing aggressive cricket. We have given them the plan according to their strengths. As you all know, the way Jason Roy played last year. He and others will definitely make a comeback in the upcoming matches,” he maintained.

Quetta will next play Peshawar Zalmi on Monday at National Bank Cricket Arena in Karachi.

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