LAHORE: Quetta Gladiators skipper Saud Shakeel reflected on his team’s early exit from Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 following a comprehensive nine-wicket loss to Karachi Kings in the last league-level match at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday.
Speaking during the post-match presentation, Shakeel admitted that inconsistent performances and failure to capitalize on crucial moments ultimately derailed their progress in the tournament.
Despite the team’s efforts, the lack of collective impact in both batting and bowling proved costly, preventing them from building momentum at key stages, he asserted.
“It was a very beautiful match, we just couldn’t grab some key points and we couldn’t get back the wins. Overall, I think this year, the performances from individuals or anyone didn’t come that way and because of that we fell way behind in the match. But we tried our best. Sometimes things go in your favor, sometimes they don’t,” Shakeel said.
Reflecting on the team’s campaign as a whole and the missed opportunity to replicate last season’s success, the opener admitted that inconsistency across departments has been costly.
“The way we played in the final last time, we didn’t do well this time, so sometimes you have to accept that. There were problems somewhere with the batting, somewhere with the bowling, like, you know, a concerted effort wasn’t shown,” he said.
Assessing the match situation and the overall performance of the match, he felt the team was a little short on runs but their inability to maintain consistency was the main issue.
“Yes, we felt we were ten runs short at half-time, but we felt these were good runs and it wasn’t that easy when we were batting at that time. But they also played well in the second innings. But overall, if you look, we didn’t have that kind of good performance throughout the match,” concluded Shakeel.
Batting first in this match, Quetta Gladiators scored 195 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
Despite losing two early wickets with no runs on the board, captain Shakeel and Riley Rossow rebuilt the innings with a 147-run partnership.
Rossov top-scored with 90 off 54 balls with 8 fours and 6 sixes, while Shakeel scored 57 off 34 balls. Dinesh Chandimal provided a late boost with an unbeaten 30 to push the total close to 200.
However, Karachi Kings reached the target of 196 runs in the 19th over with the loss of just one wicket. David Warner and Reesa Hendricks led the charge with a dominant opening stand that dismantled the Gladiators’ bowling.
Warner scored an unbeaten 89 off 48 balls with 10 fours and 4 sixes, while Hendricks was unbeaten on 87 off 48 balls with 8 fours and 4 sixes.
A century partnership between the duo ensured a comfortable win by nine wickets and knocked Quetta out of the tournament.