Sarfraz eyes Cardiff luck
Skipper hopes Welsh capital will smile on Pakistan in Champions Trophy semi
PAKISTAN captain Sarfraz Ahmed hopes their high confidence in Cardiff will stand them in good stead when they return to the Welsh capital to face England in a Champions Trophy semifinal today.
It will be Pakistan’s second key match at Sophia Gardens in a matter of days after a tense three-wicket victory over Sri Lanka there on Monday saw them into the last four of a tournament featuring the world’s top eight one-day international (ODI) sides.
Pakistan, chasing a seemingly modest 237 for victory, were on the brink of defeat at 137 for six.
But Sarfraz made Sri Lanka pay for dropping him twice with a superb 61 not out and received excellent support from Mohammad Amir (28 not out) in a decisive and unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 75.
It was Sarfraz’s second impressive innings at Cardiff after the wicket-keeper’s 90 on the same ground last year saw Pakistan chase down a target of 303 against England in a fourwicket win that prevented a 5-0 ODI series whitewash.
“We played the last ODI here. We won that time, we chased 300, so definitely our confidence is very high playing in Cardiff,” Sarfraz said after Monday’s nailbiting triumph.
England, however, have arguably improved their whiteball game even more since that series.
They have won 11 of their last 12 matches at this level, and Eoin Morgan’s men were the only side to exit the group stage of the Champions Trophy with a perfect played three, won three record.
“England are a very, very good team,” Sarfraz said of the tournament hosts.
“If you are playing a worldclass team, definitely, you play more positive cricket, so we will do so against England.”
But Sri Lanka might well have won had they dismissed Sarfraz, with Thisara Perera guilty of dropping a simple catch at mid-on when he had made 38.
“If we had held those catches, it would have been a different story,” Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said.
Pakistan certainly made far harder work than they ought to have done of getting to the knockout stage in a winnertakes-all clash, given they held Sri Lanka to 236 all out.
“I think it’s a great win today, and credit goes to the bowlers, who bowled really well at a crucial time,” Sarfraz said.
“Yes, there is a little bit of concern about the middle order batting, but we will sort out the problems.” A two-day turnaround does not leave much time to address such issues but, then again, Pakistan only needed three days to bounce back from a 124-run thrashing by title-holders India in their tournament opener before defeating top- ranked South Africa.