Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Peshawar Zalmi head coach Mohammad Akram does not believe his team will have a huge advantage in the 2018 Pakistan Super League’s opening match due to their opponents’ Multan Sultans’ inexperience, stressing that all the six franchise are on an equal footing due to massive off-season changes. The Zalmi and the Sultans will kick off the third season of the PSL on February 22 in what some feel could be a baptism of fire for the latter as the former are the reigning PSL champions.

Akram, however, disagrees with that assessment, saying: “If you look closely, we are also a new team because we had to break up our side and then rebuilt it due to the addition of a sixth franchise. Yes we have retained some players from last year but there are also some new ones too. We are restarting from zero and are going through the same process we went through in year one. We have to redo all the basics. So being new or old does not matter.”

The Zalmi squad were on Monday joined by English cricketer Riki Wessels, who replaced West Indies’ Evin Lewis on the roster. Wessels, the son of former South Africa captain Kepler, said he is ‘excited to be a part of a championship winning side’. Regarding the opening match against the Sultans, he added: “I’m massively excited for the first game. We’re the defending champions so it’s a big game. It would be nice to get a win on the board and start the competition in the right way.” On being told that Zalmi batting coach Younis Khan had praised his technique against spin bowlers, Wessels said: “I’ve watched Younis play pretty much most of my career. He was an extremely, extremely talented player and an absolute run-machine. Any praise of him is good praise.”

Published in Daily Times, February 20^th 2018.