Sarfraz Ahmed hurt after ‘undue criticism’ on team

Pakistan team skipper Sarfraz Ahmed has said that there was undue criticism on the team after the whitewash against New Zealand, which was very hurting.  

Following the One Day International whitewash, the team was under severe criticism, however, they bounced back after 1-0 down to clinch the Twenty 20 International (T20I) series 2-1 against the host.

Speaking to a local news channel, Skipper Sarfraz admitted the results in 50-over game is unacceptable. “Whatever wrong we did, I cannot defend that,” Sarfraz said. “I admit that we did not perform well. Our team was better and should have done well.”

The Green Shirts lost first two games on Duckworth-Lewis method due to rain and captain admitted there were chances to grab. “I think we got chances in all one-day matches but we could not grab the opportunity. We had problems with the new ball, neither our bowlers got breakthrough with the new ball and nor we batted well against the new ball,” said the Champions Trophy winning skipper.

Backing Head Coach Mickey Arthur, the skipper said, “We are professional cricketers and we should have performed well. Mickey cannot run after us all the time to keep our fitness levels high so we have to do that ourselves.”

Sarfraz admitted he tries to control his style of aggressive captaincy. “I try my level best to control myself but that’s the way I have played my cricket and all my previous captains had done like that,” he said.

Sarfraz is confident that the young team is heading in the right direction for the 2019 World Cup. “I am sure the youngsters are coping well and we are heading in the right direction. There were only two senior players Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, while others were youngsters but they did well and coped up with the pressure well.

Commenting on T20I performance, the 30-year-old skipper said, “Look, we did well in the Twenty20 because Ahmed Shehzad came in and freshen the team. Then we have Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, who are all maturing well so that’s why we won the Twenty20 series.”