Dubai: Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmad, whose team dominated Australia in the recent series in the UAE, hates to be reminded of his team’s poor performance in the recent Asia Cup in the UAE.
Terming their performance in the Asia Cup as history, the Pakistan captain, who is riding high after thrashing Australia in the T20 International and Test series, wants the team to now look ahead.
“In the Asia Cup our performance was not good, we were not doing well in fielding, bowling and other areas. After that we said to the players the Asia Cup is gone. This is a new series and don’t worry about what happened in the Asia Cup and just do your best for the team. The boys really responded well. All credit to my boys who performed brilliantly,” said Sarfraz.
Answering a query from Gulf News on how much the team’s show against Australia will help them in the oncoming series against New Zealand, Sarfraz said: “Before this series we had talked about momentum. The last match was very important for the next series. We will now carry the momentum to the next series against New Zealand.”
When asked whether he expected such a dominant show against Australians, Sarfraz said: “It looks like they [Australians] are mentally weak at the moment. The way we put them under pressure, they collapsed.”
Sarfraz then added: “Sometimes it happens, and every team has gone through times like this. Australia are without their captain (Steven Smith). David Warner is also not there, and the team is under pressure.”
Talking about his team, Sarfraz said: “My boys have worked hard in all facets, the result is the reward. Whoever has got an opportunity has done well. We wanted to carry forward the momentum to the New Zealand series, the way we bowled and took our catches was superb.”
Babar Azam was adjudged the Man of the Series for his knocks of 68, 45 and 50, while Shadab Khan won the Man of the Match for his three-wicket spell. Sarfraz also praised seniors in the team and the youngsters.
“Special mention to Shoaib Malek for his splendid catches. Mohammad Hafeez has also done well for us. All the seniors are contributing really well for us. Also credit to all the bowlers. Hasan Ali bowled well throughout the series. Usman (Khan) got his chance today and did well and Shadab [Khan] also pocketed the Man of the Match as well. We wanted to win keeping in mind the upcoming series [against New Zealand].”
