Sharjah: Quetta Gladiators skipper Sarfraz Ahmad is known for his shrewd captaincy.

As Pakistan skipper he has often made the right moves and even won the ICC Champions Trophy last year, but on Thursday night, in the close match against Peshawar Zalmi, Sarfraz was in a dilemma as to whether to introduce spin or pace for the last over.

Darren Sammy, who had injured his leg, may have found it difficult to use his feet to score runs but hit the pacers comfortable for two sixes and a boundary and won the match for Peshawar with two balls to spare.

When asked whether it was a mistake to bowl a pacer in the last over, Safraz said: “We were discussing whether we should bowl a pacer or a spinner for the last over. There was a point when the match had slipped out of our hands but since the fast bowlers got us back, I thought of going with pacer Anwar (Ali) for the final over.”

But Sarfraz was quick to admit his mistake. “In hindsight a spinner could have been an option, but we need to back ourselves. From the batting point of view we missed a few runs from the point of view of the pitch. It is disheartening to lose this close game,” added Sarfraz, who then lauded his team’s fighting spirit.

“The boys showed a lot of heart. They will learn a lot from here. We need to improve our batting. We should’ve scored a bit more. We also need a bit more variation with our bowling,” he added.

When asked whether low scores in the ongoing PSL is due to pitches or good bowling, Sarfraz said: “The quality of bowling in all the teams are good though the pitch is also a bit slow. Batsmen are not getting chances to play effortlessly. Our batting also needs to be ironed out. Only Shane Watson has played 50-run inning, the top-order is yet to show a big innings in the tournament.”

Sarfraz wants his team to excel in the coming matches. “We have won and lost two games each. We will sit together to decide its best playing 11 for the upcoming matches,” he said.

Sarfraz is confident that his team will go all the way: “Though this loss is disappointing the good sign for us is the fact that the whole team is fighting,” he concluded.

Brief scores: Peshawar Zalmi bt Quetta Gladiators by five wickets. Quetta Gladiators 141 for 8 in 20 overs (Shane Watson 47, Rilee Rossouw 37, Umaid Asif 2 for 18, Wahab Riaz, 2 for 16, Darren Sammy 2 for 21) Peshawar Zalmi (Tamim Iqbal 36, Dwayne Smith 23, Mohammad Hafeez 29) Man of the match: Darren Sammy.