Pakistan were better prepared for England series than India, says Sarfraz Ahmed

There has been no dearth of criticism for India after they got hammered in the second Test at Lord’s and conceded a 0-2 lead to England in the ongoing five-match series. The fans and former cricketers came down heavily on Virat Kohli’s men for putting up almost no resistance after such a brilliant Edgbaston Test, Pakistan cricket captain Sarfraz Ahmed has also opened up on the issue.

One of the most successful Pakistan captains has said that his side was better prepared to take on England in their tricky home conditions compared to India. Ahmed led his team to a 1-1 draw in the two-Test series they played against the Brits in May and June. Unlike their arch-rivals who played just one warm-up game ahead of the Test series, the Pakistanis played three practice matches before the Test series, winning one of them and drawing the other two.

Comparing the performance of Pakistan with that of India in Tests in English conditions this season, Sarfraz said, “I have toured England twice and both times Pakistan team performed well. According to me, whichever Asian team travels to England tend to struggle. India is no different as the conditions there are really tough.”

Practice games helped us immensely

Pakistan had drawn the series under the captaincy of Misbah-ul-Haq in 2016 as well and in that series, too, the Asian side had played three warm-up games before the first Test. Ahmed also pointed out that the secret behind Pakistan’s success was the number of practice games they played to get familiar with England’s cricketing conditions.

“I guess Pakistan’s preparations were good. If we are talking about my first tour there (in 2016), we had reached England 25 days before the start of the series. We had a 10-day camp and then played two practice games – which helped us immensely,” Sarfraz Ahmed was quoted as saying by Times Now.

On the contrary, Team India played only a solitary warm-up game which they trimmed to a three-day affair ahead of the huge five-match tussle.

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