'I want to know how players feel': Multan Sultan's coach Alex Hartley fasts during PSL 9
"I really want to understand how they're feeling when they get to the game," former English cricketer says
March 17, 2024
As Pakistan Super League season nine (PSL 9) nears its end with Multan Sultans and Islamabad United set to face each other in the final, it has come to light that Sultan's spin bowling coach Alex Hartley is also fasting like other members of the team during the holy month of Ramadan.
Speaking to BBC 5 Live Sport, Hartley — a former English cricketer — confirmed that she is fasting as she wanted to understand what it's like for the rest of the team members and how they feel as they step into the field after fasting throughout the day.
"It is Ramadan and the lads are fasting. So I thought I really want to understand how they're feeling when they get to the game. I think it is only fair that the players are doing it, so I should join them [in fasting]," Hartley said.
Furthermore, she shed light on the challenges she is facing in her daily routine due to fasting admitting that it is "very hard".
"We have just broken our fast now after we fasted all day. I have had some dates and some salad. We can eat till 4am and then we don’t eat again till 6:40pm the next day. It is hard, so hard," she explained.
"I go to bed at 4am and sleep during the day, as our games start at 9pm in the night," she concluded.
It is pertinent to know that Sultans became the first team to qualify for the final of the ninth edition of PSL after beating Babar Azam’s Peshawar Zalmi in the Qualifier on March 14.
Mohammad Rizwan’s men successfully chased down the 147-run target without much difficulty and qualified for their fourth consecutive final.
They will now take on the winner of the second eliminator which will be played between Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad United in Karachi on Saturday.
