World Cup 2019: Sarfaraz Ahmed claims seniors can’t be blamed for Pakistan’s loss vs India

The Pakistan team and its fans didn’t have a very good Sunday on June 16 as their team lost their ICC World Cup 2019 encounter against rivals India in a one-sided affair. As rains interrupted the match twice, Pakistan suffered an 89-run defeat via DLS method, which reduced the target and they needed 136 runs in the last five overs. This was Men in Green’s seventh straight loss to the Men in Blue in the World Cup history.

It was a collective failure of the Pakistani team, which began from skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed choosing to bowl first after winning the toss and the decision backfired as India put up 136 runs for the first wicket, with KL Rahul making 57 and Rohit Sharma going onto composing a knock worth 140 runs. Kohli added 77 runs to the misery of Pakistani bowlers as the Indian team put up 336/5 in 50 overs. Mohammad Amir managed to scalp three wickets and it was a commendable individual performance.

The batsmen of the green army failed to come good with only Fakhar contributing 62 and Babar making 48 runs and they had a 104-run partnership for the second wicket. Many experts and fans blamed the poor form of the senior players like Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, and Sarfaraz himself, for this loss as the trio failed badly in negotiating Indian bowlers and lost their wickets cheaply without putting up a fight.

Sarfraz Ahmed declines to blame seniors for loss against India

Sarfaraz was bombarded with questions about Hafeez and Malik in the post-match conference, but the captain said that it would be wrong to make the senior players the scapegoat for the loss. “I don’t think you can talk about only the senior players; I think you have to talk about the whole team. I think the whole team is not performing well in all three departments, not fielding, not bowling, and not batting,” Sarfraz said.

Hafeez (9) was caught by Shankar on the leg side in a trap set by Hardik Pandya, who then clean bowled Shoaib Malik for a golden duck on the next ball. Meanwhile, Sarfraz lost his wicket to Shankar, who had earlier dismissed Imam with his first ball in World Cup cricket. Malik’s inclusion was highly debated given that he had scored in single digits in previous matches in the tournament and averages just about 14 in England throughout his career.

The skipper was also criticized for his decision of chasing despite history not being in favour of Pakistan. He blamed the bowlers for not bowling in right areas while admitting that wicket of Babar Azam on the score of 119 was the reason of collapse which cost Pakistan 3 wickets in four overs and the match itself.