Sarfraz Ahmed, Captain of the Pakistan Team, has urged on Sunday (September 16) to his teammates to be at their absolute best in all three departments to outfox India in their next 2018 Asia Cup match.
Despite Pakistan making a positive start to their campaign after thrashing Hong Kong by eight wickets in Dubai, Sarfraz pointed out that his team needs to work on a few “alarming” things before they will face arch-rival India on September 19 in their next match in the UAE.
As per reports in Press Trust of India, Sarfraz told reporters at the post-match conference, “As a captain, I saw a couple of things which we should work on. We should have finished this match with 9 or 10 wickets and we need to ball better with the new ball. The ball didn’t swing for us with the new ball that is alarming for us. We will work on it in our next practice session. To win against India we have to be at our best in all the three departments.”
Usman Khan, who adjudged the Man-of-the-Match, played a key role in Pakistan's victory as he took three wickets in an over to bowl out Hong Kong for a paltry 116, while Pakistan chased the target down in 23.4 overs.
He added, “When I came to bowl in the first spell, I tried to pick wickets with the new ball, but luck was not with me. The second spell, I got the ball to reverse swing and I managed to take wickets.”
Usman further added, “It’s alright. I was bleeding from my feet but all is fine right now and I am fit. I just slipped a little bit so I thought it would be safe to get it checked. I’m happy with the bowling and I managed to bowl like I wanted to. It’s fun to bowl with competition, some healthy competition amongst the bowlers, and we play our cricket from session to session and give our best at all times.”
Meanwhile, Hong Kong skipper Anshuman Rath blamed poor batting for their defeat against Pakistan, saying his batsmen were completely out of touch, not being able to put enough runs on the board.
He signed off by saying, “Lots of soft dismissals. 120 (116) was not enough. It was a good wicket. Credit goes to the Pakistan bowlers. Our off-spinners are top class, but we just didn’t have enough runs on the board. I think early on, it swung a bit, there was a bit of bounce. We got through the start, but we couldn’t convert it. One fifty-run partnership is not enough to post a good total.”
