We will go for the kill against India, promises Sarfraz

MANCHESTER: Pakistan’s embattled captain Sarfraz Ahmed admitted on Thursday that his team failed to execute the plan in its 41-run World Cup defeat against Australia in Taunton.

But Sarfraz, who came under criticism for a series of poor decisions in Wednesday game, vowed that Pakistan would go for the kill in their eagerly awaited clash against India at Old Trafford on Sunday. “All of us know how big the game against India will be at Old Trafford on 16 June. We will do our best preparation for that game. It will be a new game at a new venue, so we have to start it with a clean slate and go for the kill,” he wrote on his official column on the PCB website. “I have full faith and confidence in my team and I am sure we will turn this around,” he stressed.

Sarfraz was blasted by many for his poor captaincy in the match. He conceded that his players lost the plot. “Its all about execution of your plans and the team that executes their plans better, carries the day. That is the summary of our match against Australia. We implemented our plans partly, but not wholly and made more mistakes and that made the difference in the end.

“The match had started off well. Rain stayed away and the forecast changed. Our plan was if we win the toss, we will field first and try to keep Australia under 270 or 280. This was our first competitive experience of Taunton as we had previously only played a warm-up match here on the 2016 tour in which the fast bowlers had played a pivotal role. “The pitch for Wednesday’s match had grass. It had the bounce and carry, and it maintained its behavior till the end. This meant if you bowl in the right areas, then you will be rewarded. That is why we included an extra fast bowler in Shaheen Shah Afridi in place of Shadab Khan. Australia had done the same by leaving out Adam Zampa, so both the teams read the pitch correctly.”

Sarfraz said that it was a difficult decision to drop Shadab Khan. “I can honestly share with you, it was tough to leave out Shadab, but after much deliberation we took the decision which we thought was in the best interest of the team in the given conditions.”