LAHORE: Rawalpindi captain Mohammad Rizwan blamed their uneven fielding for their crushing five-wicket defeat to Karachi Kings at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday in match 10 of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11.
Batting first, tournament openers Daryl Mitchell and Sam Billings scored fifties to amass a mammoth total of 197/6.
Mitchell scored a blistering 65 off 41 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes, while Billings hit 58 off 35 balls with eight fours and a six.
Hasan Ali was the standout bowler for Kings with 3 wickets for 24 runs in his four overs, Khushdil two wickets and Hamza one wicket.
In turn, the 2020 champions easily chased down the target of 198 runs with 5 wickets and 4 balls to spare, aided by half-centuries from captain David Warner and wicket-keeper batsman Azam Khan, aided by Bintis fielders Rishad Hossain and Mohammad Amir.
Although the Bindis failed to defend a score of more than 190 for the second time, their captain Rizwan argued that the bowling attack had improved significantly in execution and fielding errors had instead proved costly.
“I think our bowling should be at a higher level. If you look at the last match, our execution was not good but today it was very good,” Rizwan said in the post-match briefing.
“However, if you keep dropping catches, it will always be difficult to get results,” he added.
Rizwan acknowledged his team’s batting line-up as “very strong”, insisting that it has performed well in the two matches the Bindis have played so far.
“Alhamdulillah, our batting line-up is very strong. We have talented overseas players and at the top of the line-up, Yasir Khan is batting well; if he comes on, he can really dominate a game,” said Rizwan.
“In the two matches we have played so far, the batting unit has performed exceptionally well and is in great form,” he added.
Notably, apart from the fielding failures, Bindis’ defense was rocked by an untimely injury to their fast bowler Naseem Shah, who had to leave the field during the 17th over, his third over.
Cole Mackenzie then conceded 20 runs in Naseem’s remaining 1.4 overs.
When asked about an update on Naseem’s injury, Rizwan said that nothing has been confirmed yet, while expressing hope that the fast bowler will recover.
“As for Naseem Shah, there is no confirmed update on his injury yet. I hope he is fine and we will see how things progress once we get the information,” Rizwan said.