LAHORE: Pakistan cricket team captain, Sarfaraz Ahmed said on Monday thatwe lose as one team and we win as one team and this has been the mantra ofthe Pakistan cricket team. The win over South Africa was a result of acomplete team effort.
We badly needed a positive following a difficult last week when ourbelow-par performance against India was followed by severe criticism, somejustified and some unjustified.
We had made mistakes in Manchester, so all criticism from a cricketperspective was justified, taken positively and in our stride, wrote thePakistan cricket team in his Colum ahead of his teams crucial matchagainst New Zealand on June 26.
“We sat together, analysed our performance and decided to look ahead. Wetalked through our mistakes and expressed determination not to repeatthem,” he said adding “With that positive mindset, we arrived at Lord’s.What to say about the venue, which itself is very inspiring.”
He wrote “We won a good toss on a pitch that wasn’t easy to bat on as itwas double-paced but dry from beneath. Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zamanprovided us a solid and worthy stand of 81 runs. Then, Babar Azam andHaris Sohail strengthened the innings with an 81-run fourth wicket standbefore Haris and Imad Wasim finished it with a flourish, adding 71 runs forthe fifth wicket that allowed Pakistan to collect 91 runs in the last 10overs.”
Praising the talent and batting of Haris ,he said no praise would beenough for the innings Haris played as he made the difference. In a tightsituation and in only his second match of the tournament, Haris played agem of an innings. He batted like Jos Buttler of England. He looked hungryand his body language was very positive right from start of his innings.
This brings to mind the question as to why we had dropped Haris after thefirst game? “It was because we wanted to play with a particularcombination. He has a very wise head on his shoulders that helps him toconstruct his innings and accelerate at the right time with clean andprecise hitting.
It is just unfortunate that his career has been marred by injuries. I hopethis innings will now give his career the deserving lift and moreimportantly, the recognition,” he continued.
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Pakistan skipper in upbeat tone said, “We put up a good total on the boardand knew we needed early wickets to put pressure on South Africa.
We knew Shadab Khan would come into the equation as Imran Tahir had alsogot grip from the pitch.” Mohammad Amir picked up Hashim Amla very early inthe innings and though Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis added 87 runsfor the second wicket, we kept them in check, said Sarfraz.
“Shadab once again proved why he is a champion bowler when he accountedfor de Kock and Aiden Markram, before Amir returned to dismiss du Plessisand move to the top of the bowlers’ chart with Jofra Archer and MitchellStarc. Wahab Riaz, with his pace and controlled swing, destroyed thelower-order to finish off the good work that was started earlier in theday by the batsmen,” he added.
Fielding has been a worry. We have to lift it tremendously. We dropped toomany catches against South Africa, some straightforward and somehalf-chances. So, over the next few days, we are going to intensify ourextra drills and try to improve our ground and aerial fielding, addedSarfraz.
Our next opponent is New Zealand. We know they are a dangerous side, so wehave to improve our Lord’s performance, set a platform in batting, takeearly wickets in bowling and hold catches. That will set the tone. Our winis not an answer to the critics.
We are here to play cricket and, like any other side, believe we can winthe World Cup. We always do our best effort on Wednesday and all theremaining matches, said the Paksitan captain.
