Sarfraz confident ahead of Zimbabwe tour

Pakistan captain believes team is in good shape for T20I tri-nation tournament and five-match ODI series

KARACHI: Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed is confident for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe, which will start from July 1.

The Men in Green are due to take part in a tri-nation T20I tournament that includes hosts Zimbabwe and Australia, be followed by a five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe.

While talking to media in Lahore, Sarfraz highlighted the team’s preparation for the upcoming tour, and also revealed that he expects a tough competition from the new-look Australian side.



“We are fully prepared as we had a good two-day training camp here and will have three days in Zimbabwe to practice,” said Sarfraz. “There are no easy teams in T20I cricket, but we will try to play our best cricket and win the trophy. Australia will be a tough opposition regardless of the fact that they will be playing without some of their senior players.”

Talking about conditions in Zimbabwe, the 31-year-old showed confidence in the available resources and believes the team will be up for any challenge.  “I’ve had two tours of Zimbabwe and on each occasion, the conditions were completely opposite,” he said. “In 2013, there was so much grass on the pitch and in 2015, the pitches were slow. So we don’t know what kind of pitches we will have there so we have covered all areas. We are going into the series as the number one team in the format so the pressure will be there but we are confident we can achieve good results.”

Veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik recently claimed in an interview that the reason behind Pakistan’s success of late is the team’s unity — something he claimed he has never witnessed before in any other team during his nearly two-decade long career.

“I agree [with Malik’s statement] and as a captain it is pleasing to see the kind of team chemistry we have now,” said Sarfraz. “Every player, no matter what they are doing, is fighting for the team and for each other, which is why the results are there for everyone to see.”

Talking about his own batting performance, the Karachi-born wicketkeeper-batsman explained that he is hopeful of producing the goods when the team is in need. “When you become captain, obviously there is added pressure,” he said. “I know that in the recent past, I couldn’t deliver the way I wanted but I am working extremely hard on my keeping and batting and I want to help the team achieve their goals whenever I get the chance. I’ve decided to bat at number four in the T20Is as that is where I am performing really well.”



Talking about the selection of veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez over the in-form Kamran Akmal for the upcoming tour, Sarfraz insisted it isn’t too late for the wicketkeeper-batsman.“No one’s career is over in Pakistan cricket and it’s not going to be over just like that,” he said. “We know that Kamran is playing really well, but the reason we opted for Hafeez instead is because he can open instead of Ahmad Shahzad and can also bowl off-spin, which will come in handy as Australia have four left-handers in their top five.”

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah was also included in the limited overs side after a while out of the side, and Sarfraz explained that the decision was taken with future home series in mind. “Yasir Shah’s comeback is a good sign for the team. The thought process behind his inclusion is because there are a lot of series coming up in the future where we will need spinners.”