Nerves cost us match against India, says Pak skipper Sarfraz
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed attributed the loss to India to jangling nerves saying that most of the young players were playing India for the first time and got overwhelmed.
“India-Pakistan was a big match. Since quite a few youngsters were playing, they maybe felt pressure which led to missed chances. The dropped catches cost us. If we had taken those, then definitely things would have been different,” he said.
Sarfraz admitted that the players were in a state of shock while playing India. “We have tried to bring them out of that shock and the camp is feeling good following a team meeting in the morning. We told them that the next two games are important and they should focus on that. We are totally focused on that game. The boys were a bit disappointed but now it is ok.”
Admitting that he made mistakes, especially in opening the bowling with spinner Imad Wasim, Sarfraz said that if a chance presented again, he would open the bowling with a pacer in these conditions.
Pakistan last played South Africa in the 2015 World Cup. The situation then was similar as Pakistan needed to beat them to stay in the World Cup. They eventually prevailed.
Sarfraz confirmed there will be two changes in the squad. Wahab Riaz is returning to Pakistan following injury and Rumman Raees has been included in his place. However, they will go in with Junaid Khan as Wahab’s replacement. They will leave out Ahmad Shahzad and include Fakhar Zaman as the opener.