LAHORE: Hyderabad Kingsmen captain Marnus Labuschagne urged his team to take the positives forward from the narrow defeat his team suffered at the hands of Multan Sultans.
After Hyderabad Kingsmen’s high-scoring loss to Multan Sultans in Match 08 of PSL 11, captain Marnus Labuschagne addressed the media, offering a balanced assessment of the team’s performance, tactical decisions, and areas for improvement. Despite the disappointment of seeing a 225-run total chased down, Labuschagne remained upbeat about the positives his side can take forward.
Labuschagne admitted that the choice to bat first could be debated in hindsight, but defended the team’s approach. “Yes and no. I think whenever you get 225 on the board, you’re pretty confident it’s defendable. Obviously, it wasn’t tonight. They batted beautifully. I thought the openers got off to a perfect start, which is what you need when chasing that sort of score,” he said.
The skipper acknowledged that Hyderabad’s fielding shortcomings proved costly. “We probably just didn’t take all our chances, and it cost us. But we set out to come back in this tournament and show intent,” Labuschagne remarked. He praised the batting unit, particularly Maaz Sadaqat and Saim Ayub, for setting the tone early, while highlighting Sharjeel Khan’s brisk fifty in his comeback game as another bright spot.
Labuschagne conceded that some bowling decisions could have been reconsidered, especially during the crucial middle overs. “I think there’s probably a little bit on me regarding that 15th over; I could have looked at bowling Maaz or Saim then, but those are things you look back on in retrospect. We just have to keep trusting our skills and working on executing to get better,” he explained.
Despite the defeat, Labuschagne emphasized the positives. “There are a lot of great things there, even if we didn’t get the result. I’m really proud of the effort the boys put in. Things didn’t go our way, but it’s a long tournament. We’ll come back stronger and learn some great lessons from this game,” he said. He also singled out Mohammad Ali’s spell, noting that his second over was “awesome” and showed promise for the future.
With their Lahore leg now complete, Hyderabad Kingsmen will shift to Karachi for the remainder of the tournament. Labuschagne expressed confidence that the team will regroup and adapt to new conditions. “That was our last game here, so we go to Karachi for the rest of the tournament now. We feel like we’re well-prepared, and hopefully, we’ll execute better moving forward,” he concluded.
