SCO v PAK 2018: Pakistan will not underestimate Scotland, says Sarfraz Ahmed

Pakistan will be playing Scotland in 2 T20 Internationals in Edinburgh.

Sarfraz Ahmed (ICC)

We are far away from the old days when, the moment an underdog would beat the more fancied team, the natural question to the losing captain would be whether his men downplayed the chances of their opponent in the mind. When Scotland made history by beating England for the first time on Sunday, Eoin Morgan wasn't asked this question but ahead of Pakistan's two-match T20 International series, their captain was put across this big query. 

The Pakistan skipper, who leads a young but highly professional side, has come out and rightfully expressed that his boys aren't underestimating the Scottish team. 

Ahead of the start of the series, Sarfraz was quoted saying, "First of all congratulations to Scotland Cricket. It was a big day for them, After watching them play against England, one can say that yesterday was Scotland's day. The way they batted, bowled, and fielded, they deserve to be congratulated."

Sarfraz leads the number one ranked T20 side, which has won 17 of their last 20 games but he knows the nature of this format and how, despite his bowling line up, one innings like the one Calum MacLeod played against England, can change fortunes. He said, "We were not taking them lightly even before the England match. T20 is not an easy format, We just saw Afghanistan beat Bangladesh 3-0. You have to play better on the day in this format. It doesn't matter whether you are a number one or number eight side."

Sarfraz was also asked about how a win like that for Scotland sends the signal across to the world and tells everyone how bad an idea the 10 team World Cup is. 

Sarfraz said, "This is not a domain to talk about [that]. This tournament is like the 1992 World Cup and teams have more games to secure spots in the next round"

"It is good for Scotland Cricket that they are playing good sides. They are playing England and Pakistan. The more they play such sides, they will learn more about the international cricket. They have recently played ICC World Cup Qualifiers - which is good. But, if they are playing better teams, they will do better and better day by day."

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 12 Jun, 2018

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