NO PAIN NO GAIN: Brendon McCullum believes if Lahore Qalandars can get a good system in place of how they want to play which ensures sustainable success in the future, then the current hardships are a small price to pay. PHOTO COURTESY: PSL
Lahore, with only four points courtesy two wins from eight matches, will pack their bags and leave after the league stage of the PSL3, but McCullum says his cricketing system takes time before it starts producing results.
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When asked by ESPNcricinfo to reflect on the six consecutive defeat in the first six matches of the PSL3, McCullum said: “It was obviously hard because you’ve got your ideas around. You turn up and you are very optimistic about the squad that you’ve got and you set the bar very high in terms of success and you expect to be there in the finals.
“We lost a couple of games that, if we are being honest with ourselves, we should’ve won. And if we would have won those matches, we would have been sitting with four wins in the seven games so far. There are small margins in T20s. And that’s the thing, you’ve got to keep trying to get yourself up and keep going.”
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McCullum claimed responsibility for not understanding the real depth and shallowness of his squad before entering PSL3.
“We were probably a little slow to do that and the blame is on myself,” he said. “You’ve got your own ideas about how you want your squad to play, but you got to understand the limitations of the guys and also you got to put the reputations aside and focus on the character that they are.
He continued by revealing his secret formula to make a perfect team. “I’ll stand by [my philosophy]. I did it with the New Zealand team. I’ll do it wherever I go from here as well that you get the right characters, sitting in the right seats on the bus, hitting in one direction, you give yourselves a very good chance [of winning]. And I think if you don’t comprise on that, then you can walk away knowing that you’ve tried to install what you wanted in the setup.”
On six consecutive defeats
The New Zealand great believes highs and lows are a part of the game and Lahore can always rise up form this if they understand the system and follow it.
“If you are going to have longevity in the game, you’re going to have high points and you’re going to have low points. It has been tough, but sometimes when you are in the trenches you find a way out. Even if we don’t win the tournament this year but this leads to sustained success over a period of time and a better understanding of how the Qalandars want to play moving forward and the personnel they want involved, then it’s worth going through the hardships,” he explained.
On lack of middle-order experience
McCullum was able to find one weakness which caused the stupendous batting collapses eventually leading to the losses in PSL3.
“We’ve been a little bit short in the local experience of our batting. Our bowling group has been fantastic. Our fielding has been up to the mark. From a batting point of view, we’ve had great starts and we’ve been a little bit missing in the middle order which has led to a few of those collapses. We need experience in that role and if we do look at our squad, I’d say we need someone like Shoaib Malik who bats in the middle order and controls the situation and does it with calmness,” he said.
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