Pakistan captain hopes his team will somehow fight back after flopping in first two games
LONDON: Azhar Ali is enduring his team’s below-par run with the bat. His captaincy skills have been put under the microscope and his side is losing matches without showing many signs of improvement.
But if the Pakistan captain is under any pressure, he is hiding it well.
Azhar announced on Saturday after his team’s second successive defeat against England in their five-match One-day International (ODI) series that he was still confident that his struggling side will bounce back during the rest of the contest.
“The last time we played here (in England) we were 0-2 down and then made a comeback. We can repeat that provided we get some momentum,” he said.
Azhar avoided a query regarding growing pressure on him as captain and instead said that he would answer his critics with some big scores soon.
“I’m not just the captain as I’m also here as a batsman. There is no doubt that you have to score runs. That’s why I’m always focused on doing that because that’s my main job and Insha-Allah I will definitely try to come good.”
Pakistan have failed to reach anywhere near 300 while competing against a strong England batting unit raising questions over whether the tourists are even capable of doing that.
Azhar stressed that his batters were capable but were failing to really apply themselves.
“This team has capability. In both the games we played good cricket. We did not exploit good situations. If we can apply then things could be different.
“If our top order had performed today we could have scored 300. We don’t have deep batting as we have batsmen till number 7. But we need to back the guys. I have confidence that if they play more games they will definitely come off well.”
Azhar heaped praise on Lord’s centurion Sarfraz Ahmed and youngster Babar Azam.
“Sarfraz scored a superb century. He is a team man and is willing to contribute at any position though he is doing really well at No 5.
“Babar played beautifully. Unfortunately in both matches he looked really good but couldn’t score big. But I’m sure a big score is round the corner.”
In the lead up to the second ODI, Pakistan’s head coach Mickey Arthur sounded a clear warning to “over-30” players in the team to step up or ship out.
But Azhar tried to play it down, stressing that age doesn’t matter if the player is justifying his place in the team.
“Definitely he (Arthur) doesn’t mean that if you are 30 plus and if they don’t perform you will be out. If you are contributing then age doesn’t matter.”
Azhar drew some flak for opting to bat first on a green Lord’s wicket on Saturday but the captain said that the conditions eased after the first few overs in which Pakistan lost three wickets in quick succession.
“The start wasn’t good at all,” he said. “It was really difficult to come back from losing three early wickets. To some extent we made a recovery, but it was not enough. The early loss of wickets cost us the game.
“But the first half of the game saw the ball come on the bat much better than the second half. If you start at 10.30, the openers have to take responsibility for getting you through the first 10 overs. But unfortunately the top order didn’t really do anything. They were out to good deliveries, but as professional players you should be able to cope with that and find a way.
“But after five or six overs, there were some good shots players. The ball was coming on very well. In the second half of the game, it really wasn’t coming on well and reverse swing was effective.”
“The good thing was how Sarfraz and Babar batted out there. To some extent we made a little recovery but I don’t think that was enough. We needed wickets at regular interval but we could not pick up those wickets.”
While Azhar agreed with Arthur’s comments that Pakistan’s ODI unit lagged behind the leading team — both tactically and in ranking terms — he took some encouragement from the fact his side were still able to reach 251 despite such a disastrous start.
“We are behind,” he admitted. “But if the top-order had done better, we could easily have scored 300 today.”