Moin Khan blames Quetta Gladiators' elimination on their overseas players

The first eliminator of the Pakistan Super League was played between Quetta Gladiators and defending Champions Peshawar Zalmi at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Gladiator’s lost the game by one run, and that has bothered their coach Moin Khan, who blamed the absence of overseas players in the team for their outing from the tournament.

For the uninitiated, some of the foreign players pulled out of the knockout games due to security concerns in Pakistan. Those from among the Quetta side were star players Shane Watson and Kevin Pietersen. While Watson was the biggest asset of the team, with 319 runs from 10 games along with a couple of wickets, Pietersen was not able to quite get going.

“We, in the coming season, should only pick players who have the consent to visit Pakistan,” a frustrated Khan was quoted as saying on cricbuzz. “We do not need to push for individuality as our league has now become a bigger brand and now we need to go on and think about the teams. So going into the future, we don’t need to get these players who don’t want to come to Pakistan. In fact, this is hurting Pakistan as it is sending a negative signal and affects our country’s image as well.”

No casualties reported in the last 3 cricket events in Pakistan

Last year too, some players had opted out of the final that was held in Lahore. But the event was a successful one in which no casualties to anyone were reported. Following that, a World XI toured Pakistan and now West Indies are also going to tour the country. With the progress of cricket in the country along with better safety, it was expected of the foreign players to travel with their respective teams to Pakistan.

The eliminator 2 will be played between Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings, and the winner from among these will play the Islamabad United in the final which is to be hosted in Karachi.