PSL 2022: Gladiators' skipper Sarfaraz lauds Umar Akmal’s brilliant performance

LAHORE: Quetta Gladiators' captain Sarfaraz Ahmed lauded the brilliant performance of his teammate Umar Akmal against Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) match on Saturday night.

Gladiators won the match by 5 wickets. Akmal, who was playing his first professional T20 match after more than two years, had scored 23 off 8 deliveries, smashing three sixes to help Gladiators chase a target of 200 at Gaddafi Stadium.

Sarfaraz himself scored an unbeaten half-century but the captain rated his teammate’s innings better than his own innings.

“I think Umar’s knock was more important than my inning, he played brilliantly specially in his comeback match under pressure situation,” Sarfaraz said.

“It is never easy for someone who’s playing after a long time to play such flawlessly,” the Gladiators’ captain said while praising his teammate.

Sarfaraz, in the match, had scored 50 off 32, smashing 2 sixes and stroking 3 boundaries. He was also adjudged the man of the match after his side won the match in a nail-biting finish.

The wicket-keeper batter said that he was more focused on team’s win than any personal milestone.

“You perform someday and you fail someday, what should be important for you is how your team does and as a captain I’m more satisfied with the way this team performed and won the match,” he said.

“It is never easy to successfully chase targets of 200+ in back-to-back matches, you need to play very calculated. I am glad that Jason Roy is giving us a good start and he’s well supported by Ahsan Ali and James Vince,” the Gladiators’ captain said.

He also praised Afghanistan’s youngster Noor Ahmed and veteran Shahid Afridi for not allowing Islamabad to score freely in middle overs after a flying start.

Sarfaraz added that his side would miss services of Nawaz and Hasnain and hoped for their return to cricket soon.