Former cricketer Basit Ali has shed light on the reasons behind the elimination of Multan Sultans from Pakistan Super League (PSL) 10.
The team suffered a crushing 78-run defeat against Karachi Kings in their eighth match, effectively crashing out of the tournament.
Currently, Multan Sultans languish at the bottom of the PSL 10 points table, having secured only two points from eight matches.
Basit Ali highlighted that Multan Sultans, who have reached the PSL final for the past four years and won the title once, were stuck in a finalist psyche. He referenced a statement by Multan Sultans’ captain, Mohammad Rizwan, who said the team was solely focused on reaching the PSL 10 final.
When host Wasim Badami said this might have been Rizwan’s strategy to motivate the team, Basit Ali pointed out the team’s failure to retain key players during the draft, including Mohammad Ali, Shahnawaz Dahani, Rilee Rossouw, and Ehsanullah, as a critical factor in their poor performance.
Following the defeat by Karachi Kings, Mohammad Rizwan has come up with a surprising response to his side’s elimination from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 10.
He admitted that the side’s chances for playoff qualification diminished with the heavy defeat.
“I believe we are out of the tournament. The good thing is that it will make things easy for other teams. It was difficult [to qualify] with the cricket we were playing,” he said in a post-match interview.
Also read: Kings end Sultans’ PSL 10 campaign with 87-run defeat
Comparing Multan Sultans’ performance with other teams in the PSL 10, Mohammad Rizwan was of the view that the side had slim chances to qualify for the finals.
“If we look at the way other teams are playing, they deserve to play the final. We will enjoy them playing against each other in the playoffs,” the wicketkeeping batter said.