"No reason to say sorry. We didn't come home with 2-4 points, we had 11 points" : Sarfaraz Ahmed

[Captain caveman]

for what should he say sorry?

His team came 5th good enough. We did better than expected.

India, Australia and England are better teams than Paksitan. It is well known fact.

I dont understand what you guys think our team is....... Do bother to compare yourself to other teams.

We came 5th, got 11 points. Pakistan was no favourites.

Rankings go out the window when it comes to a knock out competitions!
If you really believe you can't win the tournament, then don't play in it or send an A team in there to get experience for the next world cup.

[Shafi]

for what should he say sorry?

His team came 5th good enough. We did better than expected.

India, Australia and England are better teams than Paksitan. It is well known fact.

I dont understand what you guys think our team is....... Do bother to compare yourself to other teams.

We came 5th, got 11 points. Pakistan was no favourites.

If that's your standard than nothing to say. With this mentality we will never win a World Cup but it will not concern you because your idol Misbah didn't win any World Cup for us and choke when team needed him most.
We fans don't support our team just to see them win 3-4 matches.We are not Ireland or Zimbabwe that winning 3-4 matches consider as a great achievement.

[AdamM97]

Rankings go out the window when it comes to a knock out competitions!
If you really believe you can't win the tournament, then don't play in it or send an A team in there to get experience for the next world cup.

Apart from South Africa, most teams finished at or close to their ODI rankings. I'd say rankings matter.

[Captain caveman]

I DEMAND AN APOLOGY FROM SAFARAZ AHMED!!
Especially after the WI match disgrace, even worse than the loses to bangla in 99 and ireland in 07!
The worst performance by any pak team in a world cup!!!

[Captain caveman]

Apart from South Africa, most teams finished at or close to their ODI rankings. I'd say rankings matter.

We were 8th ranked team in the ct17 and won it!
Its the mentality that matters!

[Major]

Rankings go out the window when it comes to a knock out competitions!
If you really believe you can't win the tournament, then don't play in it or send an A team in there to get experience for the next world cup.

again, do you seriously think we are better than India, Australia and England?

Look at those teams and compare yourself.

Tournaments have high number of teams to make it interesting. Even in Olympics people know that the real competation is from the top 10, then rest of the 150 atheletes in a certain sport are making up numbers. Doesnt mean they shouldnt participate.

We all knew the reality of Pakistan cricket team simple as that. We knew it was not the best team that was being sent in, our 5th position reflects our team.

You want to be a winner, you dont make changes at the last minute

[aasifwanis]

The exit of PCT from semis is solely due to non-performing oldies and baffling captaincy of Mr Sarfaraz.

[Maliq_Mudasir]

I was waiting for this press conference since yesterday. Thought he has enough sanity left to leave the captaincy. But after going through his press conference, I found him ine of the worst, arrogant pakistani player ever. This is not Sarfaraz, he has been told by someone to speak these words. He has been very humble off late. I was never his fan of being in a team but his comments baffled me.

1. He accepts he was a average player but is still satisfied. Someone please tell him you were poor with bat not average.

2. Whenever they win any match, he gives credit to himself saying he conducted team meeting. He spoke the same about CT2017. If he is so influential then why don't he meets team at the beginning of the tournament?

3.Hafeez Bhai, Malik Bhai and other please. I don't know when this bhai culture will be abolished in Pakistan cricket.

4. They were planning to keep hafeez at 4, him at 5 and Malik at 6. That's pathetic.

5. Again praising those who single handedly costed us big time ( Hasan, Malik and Hafeez). This reflects clear favouritism.

6. He said few things are known to people and few things we have only reported to management. So there was already a grouping going on in team.

Overall if Pakistan wants to have bright future they need to kick out these average mindset players whose benchmark is low that they think they have won the WC by finishing number 5th.

[Captain caveman]

The exit of PCT from semis is solely due to non-performing oldies and baffling captaincy of Mr Sarfaraz.

Absolutely!!
I will be satisfied with the sackings of safaraz, MALIK(retiring from odis and thinking he can still play in world t20 - NO.WAY!), hafeez, MICKEY and INZI!!!

[Major]

Apart from South Africa, most teams finished at or close to their ODI rankings. I'd say rankings matter.

Rankings matter, also decisions aswell.


2 months before the world cup, we were so confused about combination that we were giving try outs to different players. Asif Ali, Rizwan and Abid got try outs. Even Hasnain aswell

You cant give try outs before the world cup and select guys like that.

World Cup teams are made based on the 4 years of playing experience.

Look at England, they polished there team in the last 4 years. THey know if roy gets injured they can call up James Vince. India has developed and polished its bowlers. The only surprise was Pant which has worked.

Australia's cricketing culture is such that even a weak Australia side could give a good fight.

Pakistan although had a good batting line up, but it was inexperience. WEst Indies game was a good example of our inexperience.
Look at how Gayle batted on that wicekt, and then look at our 6 batsmen.

Thing is, we knew the capability of our team and we got results similar to what was expected. By defeating England and New Zealand we did an upset.
We were underdogs.

Being an underdog is never a good thing.

[Hasan123]

I genuinely fear that the PCB will keep Sarfraz as captain due to winning a few games that he had nothing to do with. If he is captain , things could get toxic. No way can a captain who shouts at players when he doesn't do his own job be successful long term.

[Shafi]

I genuinely fear that the PCB will keep Sarfraz as captain due to winning a few games that he had nothing to do with. If he is captain , things could get toxic. No way can a captain who shouts at players when he doesn't do his own job be successful long term.

I have good hope from Wasim Khan. He didn't renew the contract of Basit Ali so hopefully he will do same with Inzi and new selection committee will not keep Sarfraz and under performing players in the team for 2023 World Cup.

[Hasan123]

I have good hope from Wasim Khan. He didn't renew the contract of Basit Ali so hopefully he will do same with Inzi and new selection committee will not keep Sarfraz and under performing players in the team for 2023 World Cup.

Inzi
Sarfraz
Hafeez
Malik
Flower

All of these need cleaning out.

[Captain caveman]

again, do you seriously think we are better than India, Australia and England?

Look at those teams and compare yourself.

Tournaments have high number of teams to make it interesting. Even in Olympics people know that the real competation is from the top 10, then rest of the 150 atheletes in a certain sport are making up numbers. Doesnt mean they shouldnt participate.

We all knew the reality of Pakistan cricket team simple as that. We knew it was not the best team that was being sent in, our 5th position reflects our team.

You want to be a winner, you dont make changes at the last minute

I can't see into the future, not in this universe or in a parallel universe were malik wasn't selected for the world cup and haris played all the group games!!
But i can tell you what i THINK, rightly or wrongly, if we made the semis, we would have had a very strong possiblity of winning this world cup, based solely on who had the best form going into the semis!!

[Captain caveman]

Inzi
Sarfraz
Hafeez
Malik
Flower

All of these need cleaning out.

Plus mickey, inzi and azhar mehmood!!!

[Hasan123]

Plus mickey, inzi and azhar mehmood!!!

Don't care if Mickey stays or goes to be honest.

[Major]

I can't see into the future, not in this universe or in a parallel universe were malik wasn't selected for the world cup and haris played all the group games!!
But i can tell you what i THINK, rightly or wrongly, if we made the semis, we would have had a very strong possiblity of winning this world cup, based solely on who had the best form going into the semis!!

Bro, altough i like Haris as a batsmen, he also is no savior.
Haris got his chance and we saw what he did in the west indies game, which is why from a team managment point of view his dropping at the time made sense.

I hate mallik to the core and we could all sit here and discuss how Malik was at fault, but even Haris was at fault aswell for what he did in the west indies game.

IF Pakistan was a really good team, they would had atleast defeeated Afghanistan by a big margin. But we did not

And yet you guys think that we are capable of winning the world cup.

Had we defeated Afghanistan by a big margin, it would had been enough to fix the runrate.

[Rifaqat]

I DEMAND AN APOLOGY FROM SAFARAZ AHMED!!
Especially after the WI match disgrace, even worse than the loses to bangla in 99 and ireland in 07!
The worst performance by any pak team in a world cup!!!

I want an apology too

[Captain caveman]

Rankings matter, also decisions aswell.


2 months before the world cup, we were so confused about combination that we were giving try outs to different players. Asif Ali, Rizwan and Abid got try outs. Even Hasnain aswell

You cant give try outs before the world cup and select guys like that.

World Cup teams are made based on the 4 years of playing experience.

Look at England, they polished there team in the last 4 years. THey know if roy gets injured they can call up James Vince. India has developed and polished its bowlers. The only surprise was Pant which has worked.

Australia's cricketing culture is such that even a weak Australia side could give a good fight.

Pakistan although had a good batting line up, but it was inexperience. WEst Indies game was a good example of our inexperience.
Look at how Gayle batted on that wicekt, and then look at our 6 batsmen.

Thing is, we knew the capability of our team and we got results similar to what was expected. By defeating England and New Zealand we did an upset.
We were underdogs.

Being an underdog is never a good thing.

2 upsets!!
Is that even possible?
One upset maybe, a fluke but 2?
Shows what are our capability really is, that is that we could beat anyone, just needed good leadership, dropping malik to begin with. Unfortunately, we had safaraz as our leader!!!

[Captain caveman]

I want an apology too

All REAL Pakistan cricket fans should demand an apology from safaraz!!

[Slog]

Lol if this is the mentality nothing will change with Pakistan cricket. Yes it was a respectable achievement but not getting to the semis at least is not good enough for Pakistan.

Also Sarfraz clearly wanted Hafeez at 4 as he has just said it here . So his fans need to question their hero why a senior player is backed over someone who is actually better than Hafeez at 4. Just shows he can't stand up to senior players and has no tactics.

Also this notion that sending tailenders over him is selfless is garbage. Why is he batting at 5 and 6 if he cant hit big ? What use is having a batter at these positions if they can't hit 4s and 6s consistently ? He isnt good enough to bat in the top 4 and he can't hit big, really don't understand this guys use in ODIs.

I hope Pakistan cricket can move on from this average cricketer. If we cant produce a better player and captain than this guy we should close down our cricket. He has been given enough time and there is more than enough proof to show he is not good enough.

I fear the PCB will stick with him due to a few wins. And that if that is the case , expect more performances like the 13 match losing streak. Players don't want to play for a guy who shouts at players when he doesn't make the team on merit and a player who fitness levels are garbage. I cannot take this guy as captain anymore. He is one of the main reasons why I am so negative about the team. I don't see anything inspirational in him. Players like this arent meant to win WCs that is why I find delusional posters predicting a team led by this pathetic player would win the WC.

Time to move on from him.

He didn’t captain half of those 13 matchez

[Abdullah719]

Bro, altough i like Haris as a batsmen, he also is no savior.
Haris got his chance and we saw what he did in the west indies game, which is why from a team managment point of view his dropping at the time made sense.

I hate mallik to the core and we could all sit here and discuss how Malik was at fault, but even Haris was at fault aswell for what he did in the west indies game.

IF Pakistan was a really good team, they would had atleast defeeated Afghanistan by a big margin. But we did not

And yet you guys think that we are capable of winning the world cup.

Had we defeated Afghanistan by a big margin, it would had been enough to fix the runrate.

Since the start of 2018, Shoaib Malik averages 25 and Haris Sohail averages 50.

It was incredibly dumb to drop Haris after one poor innings. It's not about saviour or whatever, it's about common sense. Malik should never have been in the squad, let alone in the starting XI.

[Major]

Since the start of 2018, Shoaib Malik averages 25 and Haris Sohail averages 50.

It was incredibly dumb to drop Haris after one poor innings. It's not about saviour or whatever, it's about common sense. Malik should never have been in the squad, let alone in the starting XI.

bhai, whatever his avg is
One batsmen needed to stand up against West Indies.

Not one batsmen stood up.
The captain should had batted well atleast, but if we are going to call the llikes of Hafeez or harris good batsmen, they are required too perform in such situations.

[Khan12]

Since the start of 2018, Shoaib Malik averages 25 and Haris Sohail averages 50.

It was incredibly dumb to drop Haris after one poor innings. It's not about saviour or whatever, it's about common sense. Malik should never have been in the squad, let alone in the starting XI.

Common since don't apply to some of our fans, if it did we won't have people supporting Sarfraz, Hafeez, Malik etc.

[Captain caveman]

We need a new strict regime, some ideas listed below :-
No one over the age of 35 should play for pak ever again!
A captain who loses two series in a row should automatically be removed from captaincy!
Any player who doesn't meet the minimum standards in 2 series must be dropped and cannot return to the pak team for at leasy a year, after showing improvements in domestics!

[Abdullah719]

bhai, whatever his avg is
One batsmen needed to stand up against West Indies.

Not one batsmen stood up.
The captain should had batted well atleast, but if we are going to call the llikes of Hafeez or harris good batsmen, they are required too perform in such situations.

Solution was to bring back a 40-year-old who averages 25 over the last 18 months and 14 in England?

One poor outing is never justifiable for dropping the best players in the lineup. Otherwise Fakhar, Imam, and Babar should be dropped after every couple of games.

[srh]

Looks like he is satisfied with the performance.

agreed. you can see the tendency to be content with being average in the team and among lot of fans too.

[Major]

Solution was to bring back a 40-year-old who averages 25 over the last 18 months and 14 in England?

One poor outing is never justifiable for dropping the best players in the lineup. Otherwise Fakhar, Imam, and Babar should be dropped after every couple of games.

at that time, bringing in exprience made sense. Yes, in hindsight we can all critisize.

But Harris is to be blamed for his ouster in the intial game. He was at fault for not performing.

[Abdullah719]

at that time, bringing in exprience made sense. Yes, in hindsight we can all critisize.

But Harris is to be blamed for his ouster in the intial game. He was at fault for not performing.

Bringing in experience for the sake of experience, when facts show that the player is likely to fail is something that makes no sense. We should all fight this seniority plague.

Skill and competence > experience.

[Shafi]

Bringing in experience for the sake of experience, when facts show that the player is likely to fail is something that makes no sense. We should all fight this seniority plague.

Skill and competence > experience.

Its called corruption. People with no skill get selected over skilled in the name of experience. Its hard to believe some people even support that. Also hard to believe some people worshiping players like idol without being just respective as a person who has limit. No wonder why we lost 11 matches in a row.

[Captain caveman]

Bro, altough i like Haris as a batsmen, he also is no savior.
Haris got his chance and we saw what he did in the west indies game, which is why from a team managment point of view his dropping at the time made sense.

I hate mallik to the core and we could all sit here and discuss how Malik was at fault, but even Haris was at fault aswell for what he did in the west indies game.

IF Pakistan was a really good team, they would had atleast defeeated Afghanistan by a big margin. But we did not

And yet you guys think that we are capable of winning the world cup.

Had we defeated Afghanistan by a big margin, it would had been enough to fix the runrate.

Haris as well as every batsman for pak messed up in the WI game. But why pick on haris and no one else?
Bro, we may not be the best team in the world, but there is no truely outstanding team in this tournaent.
Look at NZ they look a shambles.
England can only play on flat surfaces with no seam or spin
India are being carried by sharma and shami. Apart from sharma and kohli, there batting is mediocre.
Australia lost to SA yesterday!

Pak might not be the best team, but all we needed to do was get into the semis and who knows what could have been.

[Major]

Bringing in experience for the sake of experience, when facts show that the player is likely to fail is something that makes no sense. We should all fight this seniority plague.

Skill and competence > experience.

then where was that skill and competance agianst West Indies please tell me. Because you are implyiing here that Haris was not at fault for that

[Major]

Haris as well as every batsman for pak messed up in the WI game. But why pick on haris and no one else?
Bro, we may not be the best team in the world, but there is no truely outstanding team in this tournaent.
Look at NZ they look a shambles.
England can only play on flat surfaces with no seam or spin
India are being carried by sharma and shami. Apart from sharma and kohli, there batting is mediocre.
Australia lost to SA yesterday!

Pak might not be the best team, but all we needed to do was get into the semis and who knows what could have been.

Everyone is to be blamed. I never said im pinpointing. But dropping Haris after that game gave sense.

Because Malik was not going to replace an upper order batsmen for obvious reasons. It was either going to be Hafeez or Harris.

[Abdullah719]

then where was that skill and competance agianst West Indies please tell me. Because you are implyiing here that Haris was not at fault for that

Cmon

Skill and competence is judged over a longer sample size than ONE MATCH.

Haris has a good record in recent times and a good record against strong teams.

Malik has a poor record in recent times, 20 years of mediocrity and an atrocious record against strong teams.

Malik's grand record in ICC tournaments:

[Saj]

Tournament of 2 halves.

They only got their plans, team selection and tactics right when it was too late.

I guess finishing 5th was about right and what was expected.

It's still frustrating though as the defeat to Australia could have been avoided and that loss to West Indies was just horrible.

[Major]

Cmon

Skill and competence is judged over a longer sample size than ONE MATCH.

Haris has a good record in recent times and a good record against strong teams.

Malik has a poor record in recent times, 20 years of mediocrity and an atrocious record against strong teams.

Malik's grand record in ICC tournaments:

yar forget stats.

Just watch the batting agaisnt West Indies. After the West Indies game a change was required. Someone had to be dropped and Malik was bought back in.

In hindisght yes he didn't perform, but situation required some changes

Haris is at fault for this, he should had performed. I dont care if he avgs 100 for the last 10 years, that game required someone to stand up. Everyone is to be blamed for that game, but if they were going to drop someone, then it was going to be Hafeez or harris for malik

[Havok]

What a loser attitude, imagine what kohli would’ve said if he didn’t qualify, mindset matters.

[Markhor]

Excuse me skipper, your performance not only in this World Cup but in the last 2 years is nothing to be satisfied about.

It's not just with the bat but tactically where he's lacking. I'm fine with a new captain making mistakes in the first few months as they ease into the role - BUT to keep repeating them TWO years later and not learn from those mistakes is inexcusable !

How many times did we see a bowler induce an outside edge off a new batsman only for nobody to be stationed at slip thanks to Sarfraz's failure to attack ? Against both NZL and AFG, we could've wrapped up their innings sooner but Sarfraz chose to bowl out the 50 overs instead of bowling them out.

Also, I hope Sarfraz fans yelling about how he's an innocent victim who had seniors Hafeez and Malik thrusted upon him read these words. Sarfraz WANTED them batting at 4 and 6 !

[Syed1]

Pathetic mindset and hate this bhai bhai culture. We are the only team that does it. PCB needs to take a stand and purge the team of all these bhais. Sarfaraz should have resigned, but it seems he is content with coming 5th. Slap on the face of our cricketing legacy. His team did miles better than Misbah's but that is not saying much.

The ball is in PCB's court now, seems like Sarfaraz much like dozens of captains before him will have to be booted out rather than resign will dignity. If we have to have a chance in 2023 we have to build NOW. I'll be in favour of giving the captaincy to Amir, or begrudgingly to Imad. Imad has a good cricketing brain and captaincy experience as well, but his own performance and fitness are mediocre.

We need a new captain and selection committee at the bare minimum.

[faizanj]

"My performances were average but all thanks to Allah, I am satisfied as a captain and as a player with my performances"

For this statement alone, he should be replaced. Average batsman, keeper and captain!

[umerz]

An average player satisfied with an average performance. Talk about setting the bar low

The team and available talent is average too. We don't have world beaters and we haven't been playing good ODI cricket for at least 8 years. Now if you were thinking we should have won the cup then please also share the reasons why Pakistan team is better than England/India/Australia

[fitCricFan]

"My performances were average but all thanks to Allah, I am satisfied as a captain and as a player with my performances"

For this statement alone, he should be replaced. Average batsman, keeper and captain!

I have said that multiple times that if you have someone leading a side who is satisfied with mediocrity, then he is the wrong person to lead. The team and especially youngsters look up to their captain and with this sort of mentality, good luck. Sarfraz should never have been selected to lead

[happydavy]

His take on not apologizing is absolutely correct. Pakistan played well and finished on same points as NZ and we all know with a little bit of luck would have been in semis. I don't see any reason why he should be apologizing. They are professionals who did their best, and at times things don't go your way, that doesn't mean you start saying sorry to thankless public and fans of Pakistan. The kind of vitriolic abuse he suffered at the hands of fans would make most normal person go insane. It's quite credible he managed to turn things around inspite of that phase.

[happydavy]

What a loser attitude, imagine what kohli would’ve said if he didn’t qualify, mindset matters.

He may have used different words but the underlying meaning won't have been much different. Even he won't have apologized as Pakistan media and fans want Sarfaraz to.

[Titan24]

While there is no denying that Pak did decently in the WC however, he should be sorry for the team performances and his own performances in the last 2 years which were poor to say the least.

[MRSN]

The bit about citing Haris and Hafeez when asked about his own batting position makes no sense! He uses diametrically opposite logic to simultaneously justify not coming in before Hafeez and for promoting Haris ahead of himself! Sounds like he made it up on the spot...as in he started talking and made the reason on the way.

Lols. He was all over the place. Seem like in hurry to save his sinking ship. On one hand he says he was coming late because Haris was in good form. Lol. Haris was dropped until Pakistan was technically out of wc. He is a complete joke.

[MRSN]

What a loser attitude, imagine what kohli would’ve said if he didn’t qualify, mindset matters.

There is a reason why this loser is sitting at home enjoying 5th position and other top teams are eyeing on trophy.

How can PCB so spineless and allow this loser to play with fans emotions despite wc failure.

[MRSN]

If Sarfaraz is not sacked as captain then I will flat out refuse to watch Pakistan play again!

Thats not a threat but a promise..

You are not the only one.

[the_game]

Looks like the last match was won only to give us the 11 point rebuttal and to give pathetic seniors like Malik a guard of honour, not to get to the semi final.

If the captain himself won't set a higher standard of achievement for his team, nobody else in the team will. I'm not necessarily in favor of him being removed as captain but he needs some serious introspection if he still wants to do bhai bhai and senior player crap after our showing in this tournament.

[KingKhanWC]

"My performances were average but all thanks to Allah, I am satisfied as a captain and as a player with my performances"

Someone this stupid can never be captain. He doesn't even know what he is saying. lol

It was obvious Inzy was selecting the playing XI at the start. He wanted Malik in the team but failure after failure forced them to drop him. It's also pretty damning they were seriously considering Malik for the final game for a farewell.

Sarfraz wants to stay as captain because of the upcoming T20 world up. He knows he will do nothing but the team has enough class to win this tournament. Sarfraz will be hailed as a great captain having won 2 ICC trophies etc.

Sack this man now and never bring him anywhere near the national team in any role!

[Mainul]

He is trying to convince everyone that he is still fit to lead Pakistan

[Sirris]

We deserve a sorry for the humiliating WI defeat and for the lose against India.

[dildilpak]

for what should he say sorry?

His team came 5th good enough. We did better than expected.

India, Australia and England are better teams than Paksitan. It is well known fact.

I dont understand what you guys think our team is....... Do bother to compare yourself to other teams.

We came 5th, got 11 points. Pakistan was no favourites.

If you don't aim for 100%, you can't even reach 75%. What was the point for the team to go to the World cup, if they were sure they wouldn't win it - did they go to make up the numbers?

And how can Sarfaraz be satisfied with his own performance - what did he do? We know his team selection (captaincy) was awful, he didn't perform with the bat & except 1 good catch wasn't a great keeper either.

Looks like both Sarfaraz & Mickey Arthur are justifying their mediocrity by gaining sympathy for the extreme criticism afterwards to retain their positions.

[Captain caveman]

Has this guy not been sacked yet?
What are pcb waiting for?
I am a contractor and if i performed this badly on a project, i would have my contract terminated immediately!
Pcb need to become more professional!

[Duckworth Lewis]

Rotten mentality at its best. Is he going to captain till next WC? Already looks like 37. Sad times for Pakistan fans ahead it seems.

[usmankhanmlg]

"No reason to say sorry. We didn't come home with 2-4 points, we had 11 points" : Sarfaraz Ahmed

And with that, I'm done with Pakistan cricket, and cricket in general.

[BaankeJi]

Does he really need to apologize for this performance?
I know Pakistan did not reach semis but is it an apology worthy performance??

[usmankhanmlg]

All REAL Pakistan cricket fans should demand an apology from safaraz!!

All real Pakistan cricket fans are gradually leaving Pakistan cricket.

They'll keep him as the captain citing his T20 record as captain and the upcoming T20 world cup. They will cite the wins that came against Afghanistan and Bangladesh. They'll do everything they can to preserve the status quo.

I don't know when the defensive mentality in Pakistan cricket started, but I remember that I stopped watching cricket for two years during Misbah's time, after having witnessed Shoaib Malik's and Inzamam's horribly defensive captaincies. Afridi was slightly better, but not by much. Sarfaraz is the worst of the lot.

One man had a fighter's mentality. A good, attacking captain that lead from the front and looked to WIN games. That was Younis Khan. And he was removed through internal politics because some other players are jealous and insecure about their place if held to merit and standards.

I can see they are trying to stick with Sarfaraz as a captain, and keep the status quo. Basically they don't care about Pakistani cricket, Pakistan's reputation and definitely not the fans emotions as long as they can keep their positions and make MONNNEEYYY. MONEY MONEY MONEY. NEVER ENOUGH FOR THEM.

It's just too late. The system is rotten to the core. Nothing big will happen, no major changes, no long-term thinking, nothing. Just a slow decay and slow death, as more and more delusional 'fans' willingly accept the decline. RIP Pakistan cricket.

Pakistan cricket is going (has gone) in a direction that I don't agree with. And as such, I'll simply walk away from it.

It does not deserve our passion or trust anymore.

Let's go do something meaningful and productive instead.

[RameezRambo_Fan]

Mediocre player accepting mediocrity. Shahbash PCB...you chose a "great" captain. I wonder what Prime Minister Imran Khan thinks.

In one corner you have a legend called Imran Khan, and in the other you have this thing.

Embarrassing.

[dildilpak]

Does he really need to apologize for this performance?
I know Pakistan did not reach semis but is it an apology worthy performance??

No, apologies are not needed, they would just be meaningless words anyway. But he still needs to take responsibility for the team’s awful performance in the first half which made it impossible to come back & his own awful individual performance - how can he even say he is satisfied by what they have achieved?

.

[RameezRambo_Fan]

again, do you seriously think we are better than India, Australia and England?

Look at those teams and compare yourself.

Tournaments have high number of teams to make it interesting. Even in Olympics people know that the real competation is from the top 10, then rest of the 150 atheletes in a certain sport are making up numbers. Doesnt mean they shouldnt participate.

We all knew the reality of Pakistan cricket team simple as that. We knew it was not the best team that was being sent in, our 5th position reflects our team.

You want to be a winner, you dont make changes at the last minute

Oh potni neya...it's not about rankings or points. It's about effort...they were ill-prepared from the get go and lost a winnable match against West Indies...which cost them the semi final in the end.

Sarfaraz should have apologized because under his watch, several players were out smoking sheesha and eating fast food DURING the world cup.

This is UNACCEPTABLE behaviour and him being captain, he should have called them out. Instead, he pretends like everything is okay.

[Abdullah]

Hafeez@4 himself@5 Malik@6 was part of their plan.
And they wanted to win the Cup . Shabash!

That is not strictly true. Do you know how they lined up in the windies game?
They just bottled it thereafter, but it kind of worked in the next game v england

[Ucdkee]

This is embarrassing from the captain.

[Ami]

Looking at the standard of our team, in another words...Hafeez, Sarfaraz and Malik at 4, 5 & 6...what else did you guys expect?
Our biggest cancer and I along with everyone here must have mentioned it numerous times, is the seniority culture.
PCB is not professional enough to eradicate it, in fact it endorses it.
Why would Malik still wanna play till 2021?
Why hasnt Hafeez retired from all formats?
Embarrasing.

[cricketfan11]

No, apologies are not needed, they would just be meaningless words anyway. But he still needs to take responsibility for the team’s awful performance in the first half which made it impossible to come back & his own awful individual performance - how can he even say he is satisfied by what they have achieved?

.

I think Pakistan's performance can be assessed in two ways:

1. Considering whatever has happened to Pakistan cricket for the past 15- 20 years, did anyone realistically expect them to win the WC or challenge a team like India or Australia? Wasn't the probability of this very low anyway?

If you look at this from this angle there is probably no need to apologise.

2. But, there were some glaring errors in the way Pakistan executed their gameplan. Two very obvious shortcomings were failure to rotate strike at the top order and lack of variety from the bowlers. We saw Shaheen getting wickets due to change of pace and using variation. This just did not happen enough when other bowlers were bowling.

There were other problems like defensive captaincy and Sarfraz not batting higher up in the order when it is obvious all batsmen except Haris were struggling to rotate the strike.

For this, an apology is required because there is a chance that if the some of the above had been handled better, Pakistan could have beaten Australia or at least the margin of defeat vs India would have been narrower which would have assisted the NRR.

[Abdullah]

I'm with Sarfaraz on this.
The margins are small. The same rain that ensured we got into the semis in 92 has kept us out this time. It's as simple as that. It wasn't meant to be . Yes we have flaws, yes we have issues, yes we need to get rid of some seniors, but in this instance it's irrelevant. New Zealand benefitted most from the rain, and that was the difference

[Snowflake]

This is what happens when you have gutter and vile media personalities who are dishing it out to the captain and the team day in and day out. When you have personalities like Razzaq, MoYo and Tanvir Ahmed who have no integrity and would stoop to the lowest of lows to drive their own agendas, it is completely understandable for Sarfraz to get overly defensive.

It's clear from this press conference that Sarfraz feels cornered and that he's being attacked from all sides. In such a scenario, it is hard for a person to think objectively and come out with a fair and honest assessment of his team. He's clearly trying to put up an aggressive front in the face of a barrage of insults and below the belt criticism.

No other team in the world gets to face such unethical media. Even Indian media and ex cricketers have matured beyond this point.

Yes, I agree that this performance should not be called satisfactory and we shouldn't set low standards for ourselves. However, I can see where he's coming from because if he shows even a hint of remorse or disappointment, these vultures are going to feast on him!

[Hasan123]

He didn’t captain half of those 13 matchez

He was captain of 5-0 vs NZ and The Asia Cup. As if his captaincy would have done anything against Australia anyway.

[Snowflake]

I wish I could see how many of those asking for an apology would do the same if their former teammates were wishing death on their team's coach, if former cricketers were making derogatory remarks on there physical appearance in the middle of the tournament, if fans were calling them fat like a pig in front of their families.

On a side note, it's hard to completely disagree with sarfraz. You cannot have a worse luck than what Pakistan had at the WC. We were knocked out by the smallest of margins and if it weren't for those, we wouldn't even be having this debate. I personally think that those demanding an apology is a little ott!

[chuck]

Considering our losing streak and loss to WI after our batting collapse. We can’t complain too much. I feared we would lose all matches but we somehow won 5 and potentially 6(if we didn’t have a washout against SL).

Can’t really expect too much from this team.

So, would you say Pakistan went to world cup with a goal to come 5 or lower? or to win the world cup?

I am fine to accept that Pakistan came back well and that wasn't good enough in the end. However, it's not fine to say we came 5th and we are satisfied. You need to feel that you belong in top 4 to actually get there.

[Pakhs]

You did have 11 points, You did beat two semi-finalist, you did eventually play some good cricket. But you must do better, in my opinion Pakistan over achieved in this WC as they went into this WC with 10 game losing streak and a loss against Afghanistan in warm up.

This WC was always going to be a right off they need to move on and prepare a team for the next WC and they need a fast bowling allrounder and a lower order hitter who averages atleast 35.

[Pakhs]

So, would you say Pakistan went to world cup with a goal to come 5 or lower? or to win the world cup?

I am fine to accept that Pakistan came back well and that wasn't good enough in the end. However, it's not fine to say we came 5th and we are satisfied. You need to feel that you belong in top 4 to actually get there.

You need to accept that we need to improve the team for future, the result was somewhat better than expected considering how bad we were playing before the WC.

[OffDrive]

It was a great performance by Pakistan for a mediocre team.

[PakLFC]

Who cares? I didn't expect Pak to win the tournament neither did Sarfaraz. That is what he means that we are not a top side anymore so have realistic expectations.

[Roaring40s]

There are two ways of looking at the PCT performance this WC. Both are right to some extent. As a neutral, I feel Pakistan will do much better by dropping Sarfaraz from ODI side and include Rizwan at number 4 who always looked like a more proper batsman to me. Sarfaraz can continue to lead in tests. This sort of thing has been tried many times in India and England.

[Captain caveman]

All real Pakistan cricket fans are gradually leaving Pakistan cricket.

They'll keep him as the captain citing his T20 record as captain and the upcoming T20 world cup. They will cite the wins that came against Afghanistan and Bangladesh. They'll do everything they can to preserve the status quo.

I don't know when the defensive mentality in Pakistan cricket started, but I remember that I stopped watching cricket for two years during Misbah's time, after having witnessed Shoaib Malik's and Inzamam's horribly defensive captaincies. Afridi was slightly better, but not by much. Sarfaraz is the worst of the lot.

One man had a fighter's mentality. A good, attacking captain that lead from the front and looked to WIN games. That was Younis Khan. And he was removed through internal politics because some other players are jealous and insecure about their place if held to merit and standards.

I can see they are trying to stick with Sarfaraz as a captain, and keep the status quo. Basically they don't care about Pakistani cricket, Pakistan's reputation and definitely not the fans emotions as long as they can keep their positions and make MONNNEEYYY. MONEY MONEY MONEY. NEVER ENOUGH FOR THEM.

It's just too late. The system is rotten to the core. Nothing big will happen, no major changes, no long-term thinking, nothing. Just a slow decay and slow death, as more and more delusional 'fans' willingly accept the decline. RIP Pakistan cricket.

Pakistan cricket is going (has gone) in a direction that I don't agree with. And as such, I'll simply walk away from it.

It does not deserve our passion or trust anymore.

Let's go do something meaningful and productive instead.

I will let you in to a secret, All pakistani captains have been defensive, including imran! The best was miandad, he was a uncouth chap but a cricketing genius, but unfortunately for him, he was in the same era as imran!
Younis also has an excellent cricketing mind and like you said was not defensive, but as a player he was not good enough to play white ball cricket, though he was an atg in red ball cricket!

[fitCricFan]

Who cares? I didn't expect Pak to win the tournament neither did Sarfaraz. That is what he means that we are not a top side anymore so have realistic expectations.

That's a very diplomatic response.
Going by the hoopla on this board last week, a lot of Pakistan fans seemed distraught with the fact that Pakistan did not qualify for the knockout stage even though the performance was below par in the WC when it mattered and then it was all conspiracy as to how ICC and/or BCCI seemed to have robbed the Pakistan team of its deserved place in the semi's

Sarfraz has never been the sharpest pencil in the drawer when it comes to public speaking. You can only hope that he chooses his words wisely but looks like it is too much to ask of him

[Titan24]

He is trying to convince everyone that he is still fit to lead Pakistan

Exactly, it looks like rather than answering the journalist he is using them as a medium to tell the PCB management he is still fit enough to lead.

[BakuGM]

Since the start of 2018, Shoaib Malik averages 25 and Haris Sohail averages 50.

It was incredibly dumb to drop Haris after one poor innings. It's not about saviour or whatever, it's about common sense. Malik should never have been in the squad, let alone in the starting XI.

So who selected Mailk in the squad? Who was making playing 11 selection for the first games? Are our posters blind not to understand why Malik kept getting selected in the playing 11?

What do you want Sarfaraz to say about playing 11 strategy, he has to say Hafeez, him and Malik as this was being imposed from the most clueless chief selector (also a very useless Captain in his days). Sarfaraz had two choices either to keep his mouth shut or resign. Just for info he did tell PCB he is resigning after the India game (mostly due to Inzimam interference in the playing 11) but instead of accepting his resignation Inzi was shipped out of UK.

Now before this press conference he had to decide whether to tell the truth or tow the PCB line which unfortunately he choose thus keeping peace. I am angry about this as he would have been better served by resigning and then spilling the facts.

I also agree his performance was poor and he should have raised his hand and admitted it but this is too much to ask in desi culture where no one ever admits to be wrong....

[Sunny_majoka]

My ears were bleeding while listening to him. Not single clear answer from him. If he retained as a captain it will be appalling. We need much better mind to lead pak team.