We will bring our A game to the series, Azhar warns England

SOUTHAMPTON, England: Misbah-ul-Haq has delivered Pakistan the Test mace. The onus is now on his potential successor, Azhar Ali, to follow suit and somehow help change the fortunes of Pakistan’s One-day International side, writes Khalid Hussain.

But emulating Misbah in the 50-over format is almost like mission impossible for Azhar, considering that Pakistan are currently languishing at number nine in the ODI rankings. While teams like England have evolved, Pakistan continue to bet on the sort of nineties-style cricket whose shelf life has long expired.

That’s the reason why, not many are expecting Pakistan to counter an aggressive England team in the five-match ODI series which gets underway here at Ageas Bowl from Wednesday (today).

But Azhar put up a brave face on Tuesday, issuing a clear warning that Pakistan will be bringing their ‘A game’ to series in a bid to floor England.

“They were not taking us seriously before the Test series either,” Azhar said referring to the four-Test against England which Pakistan squared 2-2 with an emphatic 10-wicket triumphs inside four days at The Oval earlier this month.

“England are no doubt a very strong ODI side perhaps even stronger than their Test team. But we are confident. We have to bring our A game and we will do that to match England in this series.”

Azhar believes that Pakistan’s recent rise to number one in the Test rankings has provided his ODI unit with a lot of motivation.

“Being world number in Tests is a big achievement,” he said. “It has provided our ODI team with a lot of motivation. We have to be consistent and achieve improvement in our ranking in this format as well.

“The challenge is big as we have a lot of tough series coming up. But it is also an opportunity. Our morale is high and I’m sure that the new players (in the ODI team) will perform with the same zeal and hunger as our Test players did.”

Azhar took up Pakistan’s ODI captaincy from Shahid Afridi post World Cup 2015 on a personal high with scores of 72, 36, 101, 79 and 102 in his first five one-day outings as skipper. Though the scores came against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, Azhar did exhibit a Misbah-like presence, shepherding Pakistan’s otherwise brittle batting line-up whenever it needed him the most.

But it has been downhill since then.

In his last 12 ODI appearances, Azhar has failed to score a single fifty. Even in the big win against Ireland in Dublin last week, Azhar lost his wicket after facing 12 balls for only 1 run. His opening partner Sharjeel Khan went on to hammer the third fastest 150 in ODI history as Pakistan demolished Ireland by 255 runs.

His below-par showing with the bat in white-ball cricket has prompted some critics to even question his place in Pakistan’s ODI line-up.

Azhar agreed that the pressure was there but added that he will respond positively both as captain and the team’s key batsman in the coming games.

“When you play international cricket, the pressure is always there. I’ll try to convert starts into big totals. As a batsman you have to really score some big runs.”

Azhar rated England as a dangerous team due to the way they have responded to an embarrassingly early exit from last year’s World Cup.

“I think they have played exciting and fearless cricket after the World Cup,” he said. “They have a deep batting lineup, a very good combination and some match-winners. We know that we have to be aggressive against them.”

Azhar sees the forthcoming series as a perfect opportunity for Pakistan to get a good feel of English conditions before returning here next summer for the ICC Champions Trophy.

“It’s really good because this series will help us keep in touch with the conditions especially ahead of th Champions Trophy. This series is very important for us as there are many challenging assignments coming up especially the one against Australia in Australia.”