"We have players in the side who, on their day, can win matches single-handedly" : Sarfaraz Ahmed

[Abdullah719]

"Like I had said before, any team in T20 can not be taken lightly"

"There team has potential and their boys played better"

"I will still back my team, we had a bad day today and we didnt play good cricket and they played better cricket than us"

"The decision to bowl first was because there is a lot of dew later but we must give credit to their bowling - they bowled better, and bowled better than us"

"The way they got 3 of our batsmen out in the first 6 overs, I believe that was the turning point"

"As far as the topic of Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad is concerned, previously they have had good performances in domestic season and also done well in PSL"

"As I had said before, whichever players we bring into the squad will be given adequate chances"

"They are good players and will perform well in the future"

"T20 is one format where its not easy to win lots of matches; In the past Pakistan team has consistently won 11 matches and sometimes 8 matches too"

"If you look at this team, then you will see some guys are making comebacks and others are trying to establish a place for themselves but I will say that we have players in the side who on their day can win the game by themselves"

"As far as Fakhar and Haris are concerned, they have been part of our ODI team for a while now. We wanted to play Ahmed and Umar at their numbers, if we played Fakhar, Ahmed would have to play one down"

"Misbah Bhai and I had decided that Ahmed Shehzad should be tried because looking ahead to the World Cup, if he gets set in the team as an opener then we cannot hope for a better player"

"The same reasoning we had for playing Umar Akmal in Haris's position - we had seen what Haris can do and in the previous T20 he had done well but we wanted to try Umar at this position only"

"We weren't thinking about losing the match, we played 6 new players, if we were worried about losing we would have played the other players. We thought that players we pick in the squad should be given a fair chance so that they can gain confidence, it's not easy to come from domestic cricket to international cricket. You need 3-4 innings to perform well"

"Shadab is fine but he is going through a bad patch right now, he needs your support and he is a bowler who in the past has put in good performances for Pakistan"

"Faheem Ashraf is being developed as an all-rounder, he's made a comeback in the side and there is always room for improvement - Inshallah all these guys have done well for Pakistan and will keep on doing well"

[Energy]

Can't even decipher one original comment. Reads like a dead script.

[babajee]

Fluke win by SL, but we deserve it if we continue to play Shehzad and Umar.

[thecrusade911]

And that day never comes. When was the last time a player single handedly won us match???

[MenInG]

Can't even decipher one original comment. Reads like a dead script.

He was speaking like a man who didnt want to be there!

[thecrusade911]

Anyone calling this win a fluke is clearly mistaken. SL outperformed Pak in all the 3 departments. For me the best batsman of this tour has been Gunatilaka. He has been better than Babar as well in every aspect. Overall the skill level of some the players of SL have clearly been better than all the Pak players(apart from babar). They have been better in death over batting in ODIs, their spinners have been better than ours.

[Rayyman]

Sarfraz is so entitled. He never earned to bat at #4 in T20Is.

A 80-90 odd vs Scotland that's it. Anybody can do that.

[Ahmed216]

All I can say is we are set for a very miserable time as fans

[thecrusade911]

If Pakistan needs 50 odd runs in last 5 overs against a top team(Ind, Aus,SA,NZ,Eng), they will lose every damn time. They simply aren't T20 material.

[Mueez]

Fluke win by SL, but we deserve it if we continue to play Shehzad and Umar.

This sums it up.

How many times are we going to play these TTFs?

Haven’t we learnt our lesson yet?

[aloo paratha]

Yeah and you can't even win a match for a club team, let alone an international one.

[mosh101]

He said there were 6 new players in the team today haha !!!

[Abdullah719]

He said there were 6 new players in the team today haha !!!

[Saj]

Who are these players who can single-handedly win Pakistan matches?

Babar Azam is one. I can't think of too many others.

[babajee]

This sums it up.

How many times are we going to play these TTFs?

Haven’t we learnt our lesson yet?

I forgot to mention Faheem as well

[Saj]

New start
New management
New coaches
New selectors
New domestic set-up
But the same tried and tested failures

[Hasan123]

Lol even in his native tongue his communication is poor. Rarely says anything that isn’t textbook or something that isn’t embarrassing.

[ask_analyse_act]

From his comments what can be concluded was they tried shehzad and akmal knowingly that they are poor and didnt care about losing.

So to lose a game for pak is ok for them and be happy to give chances to shehzad, akmal and his buddies. Kick this idiot all way back to his domestic team along with his buddies Definitely fans dont deserve such captains, coach and selector. So infuriating that shehzad is been in line for an opener to play in t20 WC wow no words to say.

[Markhor]

He has no analytical abilities whatsoever.

[Titan24]

Forget about other players, when did Sarfaraz had his day and won Pakistan a match? Dont remember anything close to that in recent times or even in his LOI career other than maybe 1 or 2 cameos.

[Mueez]

I forgot to mention Faheem as well

Yeah he’s been awful since a while.

Even his bowling has deteriorated...

[Markhor]

What is this Pakistani obsession with "individual matchwinners" anyway ? Does any other nation repeat this mantra as much as we do ?

When Pakistan was at its peak between 1982-1994 we had a strong collective unit. However since then we unhealthily fetishise individuals to bail out a mediocre bunch hence our "inconsistency" tag - as when those matchwinners fail the whole team fails.

The best sporting teams are those with a strong unit. Australia in their heyday weren't entirely dependent on Warne and McGrath - they had Ponting, Gilchrist, Hayden etc.

But Sarfraz doesn't seem to understand any of that.

[Mamoon]

Forget about other players, when did Sarfaraz had his day and won Pakistan a match? Dont remember anything close to that in recent times or even in his LOI career other than maybe 1 or 2 cameos.

Sarfraz has only won two matches for Pakistan since 2016: The 5th ODI in England in September 2016, and the second Test vs Australia in the UAE last year. That is it.

[TeamPak95]

Sarfraz has only won two matches for Pakistan since 2016: The 5th ODI in England in September 2016, and the second Test vs Australia in the UAE last year. That is it.

And the virtual quarter final vs Sri Lanka in CT17. I can't think of any others though.

[Usman Chadda]

Surely he is not counting himself in that?

[Mamoon]

And the virtual quarter final vs Sri Lanka in CT17. I can't think of any others though.

Yes but he completely bottled that one. Perera dropped two sitters and Amir was far more assured with the bat.

[TeamPak95]

@Mamoon He still brought it home though. Drop catches are part of the game, and as a batsman you gotta make the most of it which Sarfraz did.

[Energy]

He was speaking like a man who didnt want to be there!

Our players aren't educated enough and therefore take criticism as offense. And then you see this fake bharam and attitude for no reason.

Still can't get that embarrassment out of my mind when he replied "same, same" after Kohli gave a detailed explanation to a question at the WC launch show.

[big_gamer007]

Sarfaraz is a massive liability, sooner he gets discarded better for Pakistan.

[Shazzam]

So they want to replace Fakhar Zaman with Shehzad and replace Haris Sohail with Umar Akmal. Yup the end is near.

[Saj]

So they want to replace Fakhar Zaman with Shehzad and replace Haris Sohail with Umar Akmal. Yup the end is near.

This is what confuses me.

What are they trying to achieve by recalling 2 failures into the team. Give others a chance, give youngsters a chance or play the likes of Haris who have been in good form.

[Kroll]

Note, with Sarfraz, it all conjecture - this guy can be a match winner or that guy can be a match winner. It's all superficial rubbish, there is no proper reasoning or analysis. Hope he gets the boot sooner rather than later.

[CadPakFan]

If Pakistan needs 50 odd runs in last 5 overs against a top team(Ind, Aus,SA,NZ,Eng), they will lose every damn time. They simply aren't T20 material.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/...in-uae-2018-19

[Shazzam]

This is what confuses me.

What are they trying to achieve by recalling 2 failures into the team. Give others a chance, give youngsters a chance or play the likes of Haris who have been in good form.

Sounds to me they want to force some sort of performances off these two in order to replace the current performing players. For people who should know better than a average fan, they are proving how this bhai bhai system is dominating our cricket system. This very thing has to go for us to prosper.

[Mirpur express]

Game changers lol once in a blue moon 🤦🏽*♂️

[saeedhk]

I cannot wait to see this coward leave the team. He is not even worthy of being part of Kowloon Cricket Club!!

[shortbread]

I don't think Sarfraz had a say in the matter, he is simply being diplomatic. I have immense respect for Misbah, a legend who has tirelessly served Pakistan cricket during its darkest phase.

But boy oh boy were these recalls terrible or what?!

A decade has past since Akmal made his International debut, i.e 10 YEARS! Even today people treat him like a talented prospect who can attain great heights. Akmal is not intelligent enough to make an impact in World cricket, he does not have the IQ or reformed through quality education. As per official records he's 30, in reality his biological clock would be in the mid 30s and his physical prowess by modern cricket standards close to 40! What exactly is a recall going to achieve? By the next ODI world cup he'll be closing in on the retirement age and has played little International cricket recently to make it to the T20 WC side. So one asks again, 'What was this recall going to achieve?'.

Shezad, oh boy. Can play about four shots from the batting manual, albeit he plays them pretty. But set an orthodox close field and he's like a deer caught in headlights. Such a mediocre batsman in challenging conditions or against quality bowling. Cannot rotate strike, cannot pierce gap, cannot clear the boundary at will...... can defend tho! Pretty sure Misbah's words of encouragement to Shezad would be like....'Take your time, no hurry!'. A SR in limited overs cricket that would even frustrate Boycott.

There might be dearth of decent talent, but you do not resolve it by simply hoping that past mistakes get their umpteen chance to fix themselves. Definitely not at the expense of the national side!

(PS: They will come good this series at some point. Law of averages, young inexperienced touring side etc...... but buying into that will be foolish.)