ISLAMABAD: Islamabad United head coach Dean Jones believes the standard in Pakistan Super League (PSL) is terrific and just what Pakistan needs to build for the T20 international events ahead.

Quetta Gladiators trounced Islamabad United by seven wickets in the 11th match of the PSL, leaving Jones wondering why his team’s strong batting is unable to click.

When asked whether the reputed Islamabad batsmen are failing due to their inability to adapt or their wrong approach to the game, Jones said: “It depends on how you play spin. It is no different whether it is Test, ODI or T20, when the spinners toss up the batsmen have to go down and get the ball on the full or as half volley and if it is short, you play it off the back foot.”

“We are getting caught too much on the crease. Now are we having a big cloud in our thinking when the spinners are coming on to bowl? It could be due to too many options or maybe just overthinking a little bit,” said Jones. “One must see the ball, play the ball and hit it. Where all of a sudden you get dot balls and put pressure on your game and you feel like you’ve got to play a big shot, we land up losing five wickets for 46 off the spinners. Then the game is over.”

To a query whether the Islamabad total also was too small to defend, Jones candidly said: “We just hadn’t batted properly throughout this whole tournament. Nothing to take away from Quetta though, they batted five times second and have got four wins. So that is the way the pitches are but we were not good. Great start at 1 for 54 but we just did not capitalise on the spinners again. We did not bat well.”

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2016