Team needs to stop making careless mistakes reckons Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi, the Pakistani skipper was doing a press conference ahead of their match against New Zealand. Pakistan has played 2 matches so far and have won against Bangladesh and lost against arch rivals India a night ago at Eden Gardens.

On being asked about what the team is thinking after their loss to India, Afridi said that the team needs to stop making small and costly mistakes. He said that the small mistakes were costing them momentum and matches as against India, where they didn’t capitalize of a decent start given by their openers and folded for a small total.

Though Pakistani bowlers tried their best and Mohd Sami sent back Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina back to the pavilion in two balls, they couldn’t dislodge Virat Kohli, who made a brilliant 55* on a difficult pitch to win the match against Pakistan along with Yuvraj Singh.

On being asked about facing the New Zealand side, he said that the Kiwis are the team to beat in this group as they have already beaten two very big teams in India and Australia. He said that you cannot rate the New Zealanders low because they beat India on a turning track that didn’t suit their style of play.

He said that their team is well balanced and according to the wickets they play on, they are choosing their best playing XI currently. He also pointed out that the Pakistanis were not far behind and were in good form with both bat and ball, the only thing for them to stop doing was repeating the small mistakes again and again.

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He said that they will first see the conditions and pitch at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium at Mohali, before taking into consideration the combination of the team. He said, it the collective effort of the captain, the coach and the team management that picks the playing XI and he hopes to do well in a match that is crunch match for them.

New Zealand and Pakistan will face off against each other tomorrow at the PCA Stadium in Mohali and the match will be shown live at 7.30 PM IST.