KARACHI: Hyderabad Kingsmen captain Marnus Labuschagne was delighted with his side’s much-anticipated first win in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11th 20th match against Karachi Kings at the National Bank Stadium on Saturday.
Kingsmen, who entered the match on a four-match losing streak, won the toss and put the home side into bat.
Despite the 2020 champions amassing a mammoth total of 188/8 in their 20 overs, Saad Baig’s anchoring half-century and stand-in captain Moeen Ali’s impressive 44-run cameo were the highlights of the visitors’ batting unit, a joint effort between Hafad Khan and Muhammad Khan. For the much desired success.
Prior to the recently concluded tournament, the Kingsmen had registered their first win in the eight-team competition against Peshawar Zalmi, but the 2017 champions prevailed in a last over thriller.
Citing their narrow defeat against Zalmi, Kingsmen captain Labuschagne insisted that the team had performed decently in their last three games, but insisted on calming their nerves to open their account against Kings at the end.
“The games we’ve played, the last three, we’ve had some good performances and tonight we put it together. We kept our nerve there,” Labuschagne said in the post-match presentation.
He particularly praised the middle-order pair of Hasan and Irfan, who scored unbeaten 33 and 29 respectively to lead the Kingsmen to glory after a middle-order collapse that saw them slide from 96/1 to 139/6 in 44 balls.
“They were composed and let the game come to them. They took their matchups well,” Marnes Labuschagne said.
The Kingsmen skipper, however, admitted that they had allowed the home side to pile on more than they had expected, but controlled the overall result.
“Probably wanted a bit less (target). As I said in the toss, the wicket quickens at night, during the day, it bears down a bit. That’s what happened.”