Darren Sammy explodes on Babar Azam's captaincy after Peshawar Zalmi gets knocked out of PSL 2024

Former West Indies captain and Peshawar Zalmi head coach Darren Sammy was unhappy with his team’s effort last night as the Babar Azam-led side missed out on qualifying for the PSL 9 final. Peshawar endured a heartbreaking 5-wicket loss at the National Stadium in Karachi which surprisingly got easier to bat on in the 2nd innings. The Zalmi’s failed to defend the target of 186 against Islamabad United despite getting off to a good start.

Peshawar were put to bat first after losing the toss to Islamabad skipper Shadab Khan. In a knock-out game, it is always important to score at least more than 170 when a team bats first. And so the Zalmi batting line-up did. Thanks to some blistering knocks from Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris, Kohler-Cadmore, and Aamer Jamal. Peshawar posted 185.

However, their underwhelming bowling performance in the final 8 overs saw them lose the match from a winning position with Darren Sammy disappointed with the team’s effort.

Darren Sammy says play-off appearances don’t count, trophies do

During the press conference after the Eliminator 2 in Karachi, Darren Sammy lashed out at his players for their poor effort towards the end which cost them the entire game. The Peshawar bowling line-up had reduced Islamabad to 5 wickets for just 91 runs by the 11th over.

Initially, the Peshawar bowlers did well with Ayub picking up 2 wickets, Luke Wood, Mehran Mumtaz, and Khurram Shehzad stood for a wicket each. Alex Hales. Islamabad’s top and middle-order suffered a tragic collapse as Alex Hales got out for 1 off 2, Martin Guptill departed for 34 off 21, and Shadab Khan endured a 2-ball duck. Whereas Azam Khan, after showing glimpses of his power hitting, was clean-bowled by Luke Wood.

The man of the match of Eliminator 1 Imad Wasim took charge in the middle along with Haider Ali, standing for a 98-run partnership and remaining in the crease till the winning runs were scored. That poor effort from Peshawar bowlers intrigued Darren Sammy to say that reaching the playoffs alone is not enough.

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"Being consistent doesn't mean anything to me without the trophy. 9 playoffs, 1 trophy – that's not enough." – Daren Sammy#HBLPSL9 | #PZvIU pic.twitter.com/0to3ctY5oK

— Grassroots Cricket (@grassrootscric) March 16, 2024

Darren Sammy explained that for him, performing consistently without a trophy to show for, means absolutely nothing and that they aim to win the coveted PSL trophy every year. He stated that 9 appearances in the play-offs with just 1 silverware is not “good enough” Then he reminded me that teams like Islamabad, Multan, and Lahore all have 2 trophies and that all of them have surpassed Peshawar.

Sammy was also critical of Peshawar’s performance in the finals where they have been on the losing on 3 occasions while winning only once in 2017, the second edition of the tournament.

“To be honest, right now being consistent doesn’t mean anything to me without the trophy. You know I think that’s what we look to or aim to get every year. You know 9 play-offs, 1 trophy, that’s not enough. You know Islamabad got 2, Multan got 2, I think Lahore got 2.”

“Everybody surpasses us and we’ve been in the finals 4 times and we’ve always got through the first hurdle. This year again we had two bites of the cherry and we could not move on.” – Darren Sammy told press reporters.