ILT20: Lockie Ferguson hails ‘superb’ Fakhar Zaman for match-winning knock against MI Emirates

Desert Vipers captain Lockie Ferguson showered praise on Fakhar Zaman for playing a match-winning knock against MI Emirates at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai in the ongoing ILT20 on Thursday.

MI Emirates posted a fighting total of 159 runs on the board after their captain Nicholas Pooran decided to bat first. Kusal Perera and Kieron Pollard scored 33 and 36 runs respectively but the other batters could not convert their promising starts.

On the other hand, Fakhar Zaman scored a brilliant knock of 67 runs off just 52 balls with the help of five fours and four sixes. Alex Hales scored a quickfire knock of 34 runs off just 22 balls. Furthermore, Sherfane Rutherford added the finish touches with an unbeaten cameo of 8-ball 21.

Lockie Ferguson said in the post-match presentation, “Feels great to beat a very strong Emirates side, nice to get over the line. Really nice today, Payne came in, it shows the depth in the squad, different guys are standing up at different times. Fakhar was superb, Dan (Lawrence) did well with the ball as well. We were not sure about the par score, but we felt dew was settling at the back-end of their innings and we were confident. Salamkheil bowled nicely, but Fakhar played him well and took him out of the game. Credit to Sam (Curran) as well for his knock.”

On the other hand, Fakhar Zaman admitted they struggled to get going against the spinners and revealed that the plan was to play out them safely. 

Zaman said after winning the Player of the Match, “I think the fast bowlers were easy, but we were struggling against spinners. We just planned to play out their overs and take the game deep. It was just because of the way the bowler was bowling, the leg-side boundary was big, so I was looking for runs on the shorter boundary. It was very good, he’s such a talented player (on Sam Curran), made things easy for me. Even though I was settled, credit goes to the way he’s been playing in this tournament, it was amazing. The team and the management enjoy our cricket, not too worried about the results, just want to play some good cricket.”

Desert Vipers have won all of their three matches and they will aim to continue the good show.