LAHORE: Karachi Kings batter Khushdil Shah reflected on his heroics against Lahore Qalandars in a crucial fixture of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11.
Khusdhil smashed an unbeaten 44 from just 14 balls, hitting five sixes and two fours to ace a 200-run chase inside 18 overs.
Speaking on the post-match show ‘Pitch Side’, Khushdil said he went in to bat with the sole aim of winning the match for his team.
“My aim was to help the team win at least one match,” he said.
He also spoke about Ravi Bopara and Moeen Ali’s advice in the dressing room.
“In the dressing room, Ravi Bopara and Moeen bhai gave me the message that the wicket was good, and I just needed to time the ball.
He forged an unbeaten 57-run partnership with skipper David Warner, in which he did the bulk of the scoring. He revealed that Warner advised him to bat till the final ball and avoid playing a false shot.
“Warner said that we had to fight until the last ball. He gave me a lot of confidence and told me to take the match till the end and not play any rash shot,” Khushdil revealed.
On hitting sixes against the ace duo of Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi, he said his plan was to bat deep inside the crease to get enough elevation.
“My simple plan was to stay deep in the crease and play.”
Regarding his exclusion from the Pakistan team, the 31-year-old said he had a different nature from that of all other Pakistan cricketers.
“Among all the players in Pakistan, I am different from everyone. I’m not on social media, nor do I post old videos claiming I was treated unfairly.”
“Recently, in domestic cricket, batting at number 5 or 6, I scored 700–800 runs and even made a double century, yet I’m still dropped from the team,” he concluded.