ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Super League (PSL) team Quetta Gladiators Head coach Vivian Richard has blamed its foreign players who pulled out at the last moment for the loss in the final played in Lahore.
Peshawar Zalmi defeated Quetta Gladiators by 58 runs in the PSL final on Sunday at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.
“The new players had not practiced with us,” the former West Indies cricketer said while talking to a private news channel.
In a comment on the recent PSL spot fixing scandal he said that in his times cricket was considered a “gentleman’s game”.
“Match fixing is wrong. The new money in the game of cricket has changed its dynamics,” he said.
About his cricketing years he said he admired former Pakistani players Javed Miandad and Imran Khan.
The new Quetta’s players in the final included Anamul Haque from Bangladesh, Sean Ervine from Zimbabwe, Morne van Wyk from South Africa and Rayad Emerit from West Indies.
The Gladiators had qualified for the final after handing a solid defeat to Zalmi during the first playoff of the PSL’s knockout stage.
In that match, the team’s squad had consisted of England’s Luke Wright, Kevin Peterson and Tymal Mills.
After qualifying, all three had announced that they will not be playing the final in Lahore.
