LAHORE: Hyderabad Kingsmen captain Marnus Labuschagne insisted on Thursday that the debutant side had many lessons to learn after losing by 69 runs to defending champions Lahore Qalandars at the Gaddafi Stadium in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 curtain-raiser.
In their first PSL appearance, Kingsmen posted 199/6 thanks to a half-century from left-arm opener Faqar Zaman after the Lahore Qalandars captain won the toss and elected to bat first.
Faqar was the top scorer for Kulanders with 53 off 39 balls with 10 fours.
He was supported by fellow opener Mohammad Naeem, who scored a 19-ball 30, while Haseebullah Khan and Sikandar Raza boosted the total at the back.
Wicketkeeper Batter scored an unbeaten 40 off 28 balls while Raza smashed 24 off just 10 balls.
Reflecting on his team’s performance, Labuschagne insisted that it was their first outing before he was positive about the spinners’ disciplined bowling in the middle overs.
“It’s the first win for the team; there are a lot of lessons to be learned,” Labuschagne said in the post-match presentation.
“The spinners pulled it back in the middle overs, which was positive, but the batting struggled,” he added.
In reply, the Kingsmen managed to amass 130 runs before bowling out in 20 overs, succumbing to a heavy defeat by 69 runs.
Captain Labuschagne led the way with a cautious 26 off 22 balls, followed by No.9 Riley Meredith’s unbeaten 19. Apart from them, only Saim Ayub (17), Hammad Azam and Mohammad Ali managed to score double figures with 10 each.
The skipper cited the Kingsmen’s shaky start, which saw them lose both openers Usman Khan and Saeem Ayub in the powerplay, as the decisive factor behind the side’s inability to build momentum throughout the run chase.
“We lost wickets in the powerplay and couldn’t get the momentum back. There are a lot of things that need to go right in chasing 200, partnerships to build. Losing 3-4 wickets reduced the conservatism, the outfield was fast, the shots were worth it.”