After an embarrassing 89-run defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India in the ongoing World Cup, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani has told Sarfaraz Ahmed to focus on the upcoming matches. Mani conveyed the message to the Pakistan captain through a telephone call.

With just three points from five games, Pakistan are at the second last position in the World Cup 2019 points table. However, the PCB chief expects an improved performance from the Men in Green in their remaining four fixtures.

“Mani phoned Sarfaraz on Tuesday and assured him that the entire nation stands by the team and expects an improved performance in the upcoming matches of the showpiece event,” reported news.com.pk.

“The PCB Chairman told Sarfaraz not to divert his attention from the game by giving attention to ‘baseless news stories’ and asked him to keep calm and lead the team to better performance in the upcoming matches,” the report further added.

The development came in the wake of Sarfaraz’s warning to his teammates of further backlash at home if they fail to lift their game in the remaining matches.

"If anyone thinks that I will go home, then it is their idiocy. If God forbid something unfortunate happens then I won't be the only one going back home. Forget the bad performance and uplift the team for the remaining four matches," news.com.pk had quoted Sarfaraz as saying.

Pakistan will next play South Africa on June 23 at Lord’s while their next three matches are against New Zealand (June 26), Afghanistan (June 29) and Bangladesh (July 5).