Sarfraz Ahmed ‘confident’ youngsters will shine on Ireland, England tour

Pakistan skipper says team ready to give their best on next month’s tour

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed is confident the team will perform well in the Test series against Ireland and England and has given his backing to the youngsters to shine in tough conditions.

Sarfraz, while talking to the media after the training camp concluded at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, said that the team will try to give their best on the tour.

“We always try to give our best and are extremely confident of performing at the highest level,” he said. “The management has selected the best possible team and the squad was finalized after mutual discussions with everyone.”

While talking about why Fawad Alam, who was once again overlooked for the tour, was not included in the squad, Sarfraz said that there always will be players who will be left out and that is a part of process and it doesn’t mean that he will not be selected in the future.

“We called Fawad Alam to the training camp to check his fitness. If it was up to me, I would take all 25 players to England but that is not the case. Every player was outstanding but we had to select 16 and that means that some players would get selected and others won’t. If one player is not selected now, it doesn’t mean he will never get selected again in the future,” he said.

The Pakistan line-up includes a lot of young players and Sarfraz highlighted that this was part of the strategy of the management to give young players a chance to shine.

“We are giving continuous chances to the young players. By travelling to England now, we will allow the players to acclimatise to the conditions and the tour matches will help them settle. The team is inexperienced, yes, but we are trying to give it confidence,” he said.

Talking about Pakistan’s spin-bowling options for the tour, Sarfraz said: “Shadab Khan is a good leg-spinner and can bowl the googly well and hence, has been selected. Considering the cold weather there, we will have to see if we use our spin options. Haris Sohail and Asad Shafiq, both as spinners, can prove to be useful for the team.”