Dean Jones reveals reason for not bowling Umer Khan against Sultans

The Karachi Kings Head Coach Dean Jones, in a press conference at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan on Friday, revealed that the wind and the plethora of left-handers in the Multan Sultans' line-up was the reason why young left-arm spinner Umer Khan was not utilised in the bowling department. The Kings lost the match to the Sultans by 52 runs.

Jones stated that the youngster would get a chance in the upcoming games to show his talents in the ongoing Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Pakistan Super League (PSL) 5.

“Hopefully Umer Khan will get more of a chance in the next game. The boys were a little worried about the wind and with a lot of left-handers hitting with the breeze. The spinners like Moeen and Iftikhar got hurt, it was the boys with the over spin who did well on this type of pitch. We have to get the balance a little bit more right against Islamabad,” Jones said.

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The Karachi Kings coach stated that his side was beaten in all departments while hoping for a change in fortunes in the remaining matches.

“We got beaten in the batting, bowling and fielding. Not much else can be said. It was a good pitch, none of our top four batted deep. We dropped catches and didn’t bowl in the right areas. We got beaten all over the place, just lacking a little bit of confidence and a little bit of rhythm at the moment. Hopefully it’ll happen soon,” he said.

The 58-year-old was baffled by the dropped chances despite working very hard on the fielding aspect of the team.

“If you come down and watch us train, I have hit thousands of balls. It just comes down to a little confidence at the moment. It always happens, when the guys start to score runs the fielding follows through. At the moment, none of our overseas batsmen have made any runs. That is leaking into the team. I can’t put my finger on why we aren’t taking our catches,” he said.

Jones claimed that struggling opener Sharjeel Khan is the right man to open the innings for Pakistan in the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.

“I don’t think Sharjeel Khan is struggling, that is the way he plays. He dropped that one catch, the confidence is not completely there. I will tell you why he is there. I think Sharjeel Khan is good enough to open the batting for Pakistan in the World Cup. I still think Pakistan has got a weakness in their batting order and they don’t know who should open the batting or bat down the order. I hope Sharjeel gives me two or three wins with the bat. The boy has won me and Islamabad a title,” he said.

The Karachi Kings’ coach revealed that his side was not panicking while pointing out the importance of patience.

“We hop on a plane tonight. We will get to Islamabad tomorrow. We will have our fielding training. We will get together with Imad and Wasim. I also realize that we didn’t get off to a great start with Islamabad in HBL PSL 1. The key is to remain patient. The key as the coach is to keep instilling your formula of how to keep winning consistent games in the T20 format. At the moment we are just going a little too hard with the bat. We are not panicking,” he concluded.