Sarfaraz Ahmed says Pakistan's World Cup dream not over

MANCHESTER: Skipper Sarfraz Ahmed  has said that  Pakistan's World Cup dream is not over yet despite Green Shirts' defeat against India on Sunday.

Pakistan's captain said: "Naturally when you lose like this, your morale goes down but we have to lift ourselves because we are still not out of the World Cup and have to win all our four remaining matches."

Talking about Pakistan's chances in semi-final, Sarfraz said: "We know the task is tough and we have to win all our matches so we have no margin of error." 

Meanwhile, Imad Waseem, talking to media at the Old Trafford, said: "We need to win  all  four remaining matches comprehensively to qualify for the semi final."

India thrashed Green Shirts by 89 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in a rain-affected match at Old Trafford. Pakistan´s remaining matches are against South Africa, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

After Pakistan´s seventh defeat in as many World Cup matches against India, the wicket-keeper batsman added:  "The defeat against India hurts".

Sarfraz praised India for handling the pressure well in such a high-stakes occasion.

Pak skipper admitted Pakistan´s middle-order collapse was the turning point in their defeat.

After their shocked defeat  against India, Pakistan comes down to the points table, lying ninth just above minnows Afghanistan.

Man-of-the-match Rohit Sharma (140)  powered India to set a big target  against Pakistan. The opener´s second century of the World Cup led his team to an imperious 336-5 in their 50 overs.

Pakistan, given a revised target of 302 in 40 overs due to rain, ended up on 212-6.

Pakistan opened the World Cup with a defeat against West Indies.

They then shocked world number one and pre-tournament favourites England before a rained-off match against Sri Lanka and a defeat against Australia.

Pakistan lost four wickets in the space of 18 balls, slumping from 117-1 to 129-5 after Babar and Fakhar added 104 runs for the second wicket.