Team work, not star power, key in HBL PSL: Wahab

KARACHI: Peshawar Zalmi’s ace fast bowler Wahab Riaz has said that they executed the plans well which helped them notch a victory against Quetta Gladiators in their HBL PSL match here at the National Stadium on Monday night.

“The way we kept them in check in the first ten overs I think we executed plans well. I think we did well as a team and stuck to our plans,” Wahab told a post-match news conference.

However, he said that they will need to learn from their mistakes. “We will try that the mistakes we are making, as in the third match we made the same mistakes, and if we overcome them quickly, we will perform much better in coming matches,” said Wahab who has been leading Zalmi’s bowling pack nicely.

He said that the wicket was good. “The ball was carrying and the bowlers who hit right areas got benefit. The batsmen also played shots and we batted well.

We got a bit late in achieving the target due to my presence on the wicket but that was the demand of the situation in which I batted,” said Wahab who scored a few valuable runs near the end after Jimmy Neesham – the key man behind their win – got out.

“When I went out to bat, I thought if you give respect to their major bowlers Hasnain and Naseem Shah and we knew that Odean Smith had to bowl two overs and Nawaz had to bowl one over and if you have to score 20 to 25 runs in three overs you can easily achieve that.

I batted according to the situation and tried not to give them wicket and that put pressure on them,” recalled Wahab, who remained not out on ten, adding 23 for the seventh-wicket unbroken stand with Dasun Shanaka (16*) to chase the 155-run target with nine balls to spare.

He said Zalmi believe in combination. “If we look at the history of Zalmi we have never had big foreign names like Jason Roy and Guptill.

We believe in combination. It’s good that we go forward slow and steadily and game by game,” Wahab said.

Eying a comeback to the national team ahead of this year’s World Cup in India, Wahab said he is focused on his performance. “I will try to deliver well in this tournament and to win matches.

Your performance does not only relate to your wickets you take but it also matters a lot how you bowl in particular situations. Obviously looking forward to it if it is in my fate then will surely play the 2023 World Cup,” Wahab said.