Bouyed by his side's performance against England, the Pakistan captain looks ahead at the much-awaited clash against Australia.

11th June, 2019

Sarfaraz Ahmed has already upset the formbook once so doing it again holds no fears for the Pakistan captain.

Ahead of their clash with Australia at Taunton on Wednesday, Sarfaraz was in no mood to relive a recent 5-0 defeat to the same opponents in the United Arab Emirates.

Instead he preferred to take confidence from his team’s 14-run victory over tournament favourites England at Trent Bridge last week – a result that followed a similarly heavy series loss at the hands of the world’s top-ranked ODI side.

A lot has been made of the difference between a bilateral series – where mistakes can be rectified in the next match – and the pressurised environment of an ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, where there are no second chances.

And Sarfaraz believes Pakistan, winners of the ICC Champions Trophy in England two years ago, are proof of the theory.

"We have not won many matches against Australia but we had not won too many against England either and we managed to beat them,” he said.

“We will be as positive and aggressive as we were against England, that is the level of performance we want and need to be successful against a team like Australia.

“That last win at Trent Bridge gives us confidence and belief but we know that Australia will come hard at us and we will be ready.

“The series against Australia is in the past now and we aren’t thinking about yesterdays, we’re only thinking about tomorrow.”

Australia will be without all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who suffered a side strain in their defeat to India on Sunday but Sarfaraz has no injury concerns with his team.

ICC Media Release