Team blossoming under aggressive Sarfraz: Shafiq

Right-handed batsmen believes Pakistan skipper has infused positive intent into players

KARACHI: Pakistan middle-order batsman Asad Shafiq is enjoying playing under skipper Safraz Ahmed and believes that the entire team is reaping the rewards of his aggressive style.

“Not just me, but the entire Pakistan team has benefitted from playing under Sarfraz,” said Shafiq in an interview with Daily Express. “I have known Sarfraz from a very long time and I don’t find his attitude different in both domestic and international cricket. His aggressive intent brings positivity to the side and hopefully Pakistan will keep on doing well while he is captain.”

Shafiq — who has 11 hundreds and 20 half-centuries in Test matches — prefers to keep the team’s objectives ahead of his personal achievements, however, he did stress on the importance of improving his conversion rate.

“As a team we were able to achieve our goals but as a player I was not able to perform too well,” he said. “I haven’t set any specific targets as far as runs and matches are concerned because my only aim is to come up with good performances.”

“I wanted to, at least, score one century on the tour however, unfortunately, that did not happen. But as long as the team’s objectives are achieved, that is enough for me; my personal milestones are secondary in nature. I will try not to repeat mistake of throwing away my wickets once I get past the half-century mark,” he added.

When asked about filling the void left by veteran duo of Misbahul Haq and Younus Khan, Shafiq said that he, along with Azhar Ali, are trying their best to shoulder the massive responsibility.

“Azhar and I were not under pressure because we have to fill in the shoes of greats like Misbah and Younus, but we are doing our best we can to shoulder this responsibility and let’s hope it works out well,” he said.

The right-handed batsman has played the majority of domestic cricket batting higher up the order, but was not too concerned about his batting position when playing for Pakistan.

“I have always enjoyed batting at higher positions because that is where I batted in domestic cricket, but when you play for Pakistan, it is important to adapt and play according to the requirements of the team rather than doing what personally suits me,” he said.