HYDERABAD: Lahore Lions’ captain Mohammad Hafeez warned his team against shoddy fielding if they are to advance to the semi-finals from their Champions League Twenty20 group.

The Lions lost their opening Group ‘A’ fixture to Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets on Sunday and Hafeez eyed improvements from his side in the fielding department in their second match against Chennai Super Kings in Bangalore on Thursday.

“We have to improve as a fielding unit ... we really have to raise the standard of our fielding,” Hafeez said in his post-match press conference.

Hafeez cited inexperience of his players after his side became the first team from Pakistan to reach the group stage of the CL T20.

“The domestic players in our team, outside of the six international cricketers, they need a clear picture of what is needed, an improvement with regards to fielding and game awareness,” he said.

“I think the CLT20 is providing them with that platform and the more they will play, the more they will learn.”

Batting first, Lahore Lions scored 151-7 in their 20 overs despite a middle-order collapse triggered by West Indian spinner Sunil Narine before Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa helped KKR reach the target with three balls to spare at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Hafeez, however, was pleased with the overall performance of his side.

“We played good cricket,” he said. “As captain, I’m happy with the overall performance of the team. We achieved the target we wanted, which was 150-plus on this pitch that was going to turn.

“The team is playing very well as a unit, but we’ve to put in more efforts into fielding. Had we taken a couple of chances earlier on, it could have been a different story.”

Published in Dawn, September 23rd , 2014