Sarfraz: 'You will see a different Pakistan team'

Pakistan's captain Sarfraz Ahmed and coach Mickey Arthur have promised a different approach when the team faces its arch-rival India at Edgbaston.

"You will see a new Pakistan team. We will think out of the box," said Sarfraz Ahmed ahead of the India-Pakistan match.

Pakistan has promised to bring a bold, renewed approach to its cricket at Edgbaston on Sunday. "We have told the boys not to take too much pressure and play the way they want to. You will see a new Pakistan team. We will think out of the box. It will be a different Pakistan team,” said captain Sarfraz Ahmed here on Saturday.

Mickey Arthur, the team's coach, stated that the dressing room had been calmer than he'd ever known. "It's the most mature I've seen them at a training session the day before a game," he said. "Our changing room was completely calm. It's amazing. It's just on the outside that there is noise. Within the dressing room, it is unbelievably calm, unbelievably focused and very, very excited."

Arthur, who has previously coached Australia and his native South Africa, felt that their rivalry was similar in intensity to the one between India and Pakistan. "To be honest, I got sacked (as Australia coach) just before The Ashes," he laughed. "So I never ever experienced that. But in terms of the rivalry I've had it's been South Africa-Australia. Because when I was the South African coach that was the team we always liked to beat."

Arthur was asked if the reported disagreements between Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble offered his side an advantage. "That's India's problem, to be honest," he said. "All I know is that the captain-coach relationship is almost like a marriage. You've got to be on the same page all the time. And if you're on the same page you get correct decisions and you give clarity to your team. And that's certainly where Sarfaraz and myself find ourselves."