‘T20 matches should not be played on such tracks’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq criticizes pitch conditions in PSL 2022 opener

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq has criticized the pitch that was used in the opening match of the Pakistan Super League 2022 between Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans. The pitch didn’t provide a lot of runs and remained slow throughout the game.

Inzamam advised the Pakistan Cricket Board to improve the quality of the pitches in the tournament. In the first game, Multan Sultans won the toss and elected to bowl. Imran Tahir picked three wickets in four overs while giving away just 16 runs. Khushdil Shah picked one wicket and gave away eight runs in two overs.

On the spin-friendly track, the Kings made 124 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs. Sharjeel Khan made 43 runs off 31 balls and was the highest scorer for the team. No other batter could score over 30 runs for the Kings in the match. Inzamam criticized the slow nature of the pitch while speaking on Geo News program ‘Jashan e Cricket’.

“T20 matches should not be played on such a pitch,” he said as quoted by Geo News.

Sharjeel Khan can become a big player: Inzamam-Ul-Haq

Inzamam also praised Sharjeel for his run-scoring abilities in the first match. He mentioned that Sharjeel needs to work on his fitness to get a place in the Pakistan team. “If Sharjeel works on his fitness, he can become a big player,” Inzamam said.

The Sultans won the match by seven wickets after chasing down the target in 18.2 overs. Mohammad Rizwan made 52 runs off 47 deliveries and helped the team win this game. Mohammad Nabi picked two wickets in 3.2 overs while giving away 17 runs for the Kings. Shan Masood made 26 runs off 18 balls and Sohaib Maqsood made 30 runs off 31 balls.

Tahir won the Pplayer of the Match award for his bowling performance. Inzamam praised the performance of Multan’s captain Rizwan and called him a seasoned player. Rizwan became the first cricketer to cross over 2000 T20 runs in a calendar year last year. He made 2036 runs in 45 innings at a strike rate of 131. In 29 T20Is, Rizwan made 1326 runs at an average of 73.66 and a strike rate of 134.89.