If the twin demolitions by India were not enough, a disappointing loss to Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night meant Pakistan would not feature in an Asia Cup final for the second time in succession.
Sarfraz Ahmed, the captain, owned up the responsibility for not just the loss in the last Super Four game, a virtual semi-final, but also for an overall disappointing two weeks for his team in the United Arab Emirates.
READ: Asia Cup final: 5 Indians to look out for
“I don't think we need to press the panic button. Wholesale changes will not work. My own performance is not well but we have to address the problems. I admit that my own performance is not good, and I accept that it's because of my performance that we lost,” Sarfraz said after the 37-run loss against Bangladesh at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
The captain may have raised his hand in accepting the failure but the fact is that Pakistan, which won the Champions Trophy last year under Sarfraz, just didn't deliver as a unit. It reflected in the fact that not only did it lose twice to India but also struggled to cross the line against Afghanistan. Barring Shoaib Malik, no other batsman was consistent, while Junaid Khan, who featured only on Wednesday, was the pick of its bowlers.
Sarfraz, though, stressed that there was need to be patient with the younger lot and remain patient with them ahead of the next year's World Cup. “World Cup is far and we have to play so many series so we have to look at the various mistakes we committed. Our middle order has to face the new ball and that is why it struggled,” he said. “We should not lose early wickets so that we should work on. We have New Zealand series. We lost too many wickets early on. Then in bowling we did not take wickets in the middle overs and that was our strong point, it was missing here in the Asia Cup.”
Comments
SHARE