Abdullah719
T20I Captain
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
- Runs
- 44,825
"Don't think Chief Selector's presence improves or worsens the team's performances" : Imam-ul-Haq
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Imam-ul-Haq
"My first World Cup, it was special for everyone as we had quite a lot of youngsters. It was a good experience and we will learn from our mistakes. It was a good campaign but we didn't qualify due to NRR due to which Pakistan fans and we also are quite upset. But this is sport and you can't always have your way. I wanted to contribute more but that's life and I will learn from my mistakes"
(Future if selection committee is changed?) "I don't know about my future and neither do you. Only Allah knows. We are Muslims but unfortunately we have very little belief in Allah. I have belief in Him and He is the one who gives respect, if Allah wishes then I will stay in the team or else I won't. My job is only to perform and the rest is up to the board"
"We went to win the World Cup but so did the other teams. We went before the World Cup to prepare, we played good cricket against England but unfortunately we couldn't win. We were upset about the first match in the World Cup because we didn't achieve what we wanted to, but it's part of cricket. We came back and fought hard with unity. Sometimes you work hard but you don't get the results"
"I believe I am still very young at the international level, at 24 you still have to learn a lot and you keep getting challenges. I am in the learning process and I am very confident. The team is backing me and my fellow players support me so I am very blessed. No one can ever be satisfied with their career, I think if you're satisfied then your performances stop. I always try to set higher goals. I try to make myself mentally tough so that challenges become easy"
(How much have you gained or lost due to being Inzamam's nephew) "This is difficult for me to say, I don't believe in such things. You are the media people, you're the ones who said it. Our awaam is innocent, whatever you tell them, they'll believe it so you tell them that, then you're asking about it also. My belief is in Allah, He is the one who gives me respect. If I'm here, it's due to Allah's wish and vice versa. My journey has been tough but I have learnt a lot and my mental toughness has increased a lot"
"If I play 10 matches and don't perform in a couple, it's true that people criticise quite a lot. I can't stop anyone, they have their points of view, I respect them and try to focus on performing well"
"My SR is 80 point something. A human being keeps learning and I do accept that my strike-rate needs to improve a bit. But I also play according to the role I am given, which is different. Fakhar is aggressive and bats with me so my role is to anchor and play through the innings and the same applies for Babar. Sometimes there's ups and downs, you have to respect the bowling if they're bowling well and you have to follow your role"
"If you look at our performances in the last year or 18 months, if one of the top 3 batsmen plays 40-45 overs, we make 300-310. So the management gives us a role which will provide a good platform. My SR can be improved and I am working on it"
(Did Inzamam's presence in UK negatively affect the team) "This is quite an off topic question. I don't think the Chief Selector's presence improves or worsens the team's performances. He is the Chief Selector and was appointed by PCB, his job is to do with selection. Our job is to perform. Whenever he comes, he tries to uplift the morale of the team. If you want to blame him for the first 5 matches, I think that's harsh and I don't really understand"
"In the first 5 matches we didn't perform as we should have. We beat England and that was a good comeback after the WI match. The Australia match was close, I think we should have won that but unfortunately myself and Hafeez bhai got out at the same time. Personally, I haven't seen a Pakistan team come back like that in a World Cup. I think the 4 wins at the end were a very positive sign after we received a lot of criticism"
"I don't use social media on tour, if I do then I will get really upset. We have our personal lives, we have families. If after matches, you focus on our eating, where we go and when we sleep, it will be very difficult for us to perform. OK, we lost to India and we all wanted to win, we were also emotional about losing but it's a sport and that happens. Criticise us on our cricket. My request is that you please keep our personal lives out of it"
"Against Australia, I accept we should have won it, I was set and I got out. It was my responsibility to carry on and I let Pakistan down, I will try to not let it happen again"
"I think England and India are favourites, England have a slight edge because of their batting so I will go with England"
"I think our players have a lot of talent and we can beat any team on our day. Mental toughness depends on how you deal with critics and perform for matches. Criticism will always be there and it should be because you can take it in a positive way. For mental well being, the people around you are very important. If you're around negativity then you will get negative feedback so I try to stay with the team where I get positive vibes. I am very grateful that in this team we support each other and fight for each other. My family is also supportive"
"A person tries to perform in the main matches which can help Pakistan. Unfortunately, I got starts and get out in 40s. If I had scored a hundred earlier in the tournament, it would have helped the team but this is cricket, you have to learn from your mistakes and you can't have it all your way. From the first match, I was trying to give big performances but unfortunately that didn't happen. Sometimes these things don't go in your favour. I accept the criticism that if I had performed earlier in the tournament, it would have been better for the team"
"I don't think any other team did as much fielding preparation as we did. I think this depends on the individual and how much confidence you have, catches are dropped in pressure matches. We realise that in this tournament, our fielding was very poor and we should have done better. It's not as though we don't practice, the fielding coach does his best but unfortunately the results didn't come. I think it depends on individuals and how seriously they take fielding"
"I can't keep critics quiet, nor can I make everyone happy. I try to keep my team happy and there is a big fan following for the Pakistan team so I try to keep them happy with my performances"
"In the meeting before BD game, we decided to see the wicket first and try to be positive and see where we can finish. But the main focus was on winning match, we have to be realistic. 315 run difference was just impossible. When we went in, the wicket was difficult, it was quite slow and the ball wasn't coming onto the bat. We couldn't get into the flow. When I was batting with Babar, we had to fight for our runs. Bangladesh isn't a small team anymore, they played well and are quite professional and good team. Our main focus was to win the match, the wicket didn't allow us to make a score like 500"
"Our job is to perform under any coach and respect him and try to win matches"
"It's true that Rohit Sharma hit 5 hundreds and Shakib Al Hasan had very good performances. This was my first World Cup, same with Babar, we're both 23/24. It will take some time. Rohit Sharma has 200+ matches, Babar has 60-70 matches so it's a little early for a comparison. You need experience and you learn from your mistakes and gain maturity. It's not as though you play 60 matches and start performing like Virat Kohli. They also had many mistakes and lack of performances but they have gained confidence, they have such a good system and since 3-4 years, their openers didn't change. Now you can see their performances. If our players get backing and support from the media and people, good performances are possible"
"No one intends to bat poorly or bowl badly, we all work very hard and we feel bad when we lose. People get upset, but we're playing and it's our responsibility. If I sit here and say this after 200 ODIs or after 100 ODIs that oh I made a mistake, that would be wrong but right now we are trying to remove the mistakes and perform as well as we can"
Babar Azam
"It was my first World Cup and it was quite good for myself and the team. We came back well, everyone performed and individually, it was quite a good World Cup for me. I gained quite a lot of experience from it and learnt a few things about what to improve on"
"Other teams also came to play, unfortunately we couldn't apply ourselves in the first game which led to our NRR suffering"
"After we lose a match to India, no matter what we do, it's painted negatively. If we go anywhere, it's negative, why are we doing this, why are we eating that. This is natural after we lose to India. The media started making a big deal about the yawn, all of us yawn and even during batting, it's not a big deal but you the media make a big deal of it"
"I think England should win the World Cup, they have a good batting lineup and they can chase also. Their openers give them good stands"
"We don't know about India's loss, we were focused on winning our games. We were all focused on giving our 100% and we weren't worried about other results"
"The senior players in our team never let us feel like they are senior, we are all very friendly. They also helped us and gave us feedback and guided us during situations. I don't think any of these 15 players were relu kattas, everyone was selected on their performances for the last 2 years"
"In the Australia match, I shouldn't have gotten out, I played a bad shot. If I had stayed there, we might have gotten good result"
"I am pleased to have broken the record of a legend like Javed Miandad and I feel proud. I wanted to perform well in the World Cup for Pakistan"
"I have gotten out in 40s and 90s sometimes, I try to focus more then because if you go with the flow, you can give away your wicket. I think I make mistakes in the 40s and 90s often, this is a learning process for me, sometimes you succeed and sometimes you don't"
"The talk of grouping happened after the India match, there was nothing before that. As I said, people get after us after the India match. People started talking about grouping and then when we started winning, no one said anything. If 3-4 of us are going somewhere to eat food sitting somewhere, they say there is grouping. This was all due to the India match, there is no such thing. We are all together"
<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPakistanCricketBoard%2Fvideos%2F2363621787231285%2F&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="314" style="border
ne;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>Imam-ul-Haq
"My first World Cup, it was special for everyone as we had quite a lot of youngsters. It was a good experience and we will learn from our mistakes. It was a good campaign but we didn't qualify due to NRR due to which Pakistan fans and we also are quite upset. But this is sport and you can't always have your way. I wanted to contribute more but that's life and I will learn from my mistakes"
(Future if selection committee is changed?) "I don't know about my future and neither do you. Only Allah knows. We are Muslims but unfortunately we have very little belief in Allah. I have belief in Him and He is the one who gives respect, if Allah wishes then I will stay in the team or else I won't. My job is only to perform and the rest is up to the board"
"We went to win the World Cup but so did the other teams. We went before the World Cup to prepare, we played good cricket against England but unfortunately we couldn't win. We were upset about the first match in the World Cup because we didn't achieve what we wanted to, but it's part of cricket. We came back and fought hard with unity. Sometimes you work hard but you don't get the results"
"I believe I am still very young at the international level, at 24 you still have to learn a lot and you keep getting challenges. I am in the learning process and I am very confident. The team is backing me and my fellow players support me so I am very blessed. No one can ever be satisfied with their career, I think if you're satisfied then your performances stop. I always try to set higher goals. I try to make myself mentally tough so that challenges become easy"
(How much have you gained or lost due to being Inzamam's nephew) "This is difficult for me to say, I don't believe in such things. You are the media people, you're the ones who said it. Our awaam is innocent, whatever you tell them, they'll believe it so you tell them that, then you're asking about it also. My belief is in Allah, He is the one who gives me respect. If I'm here, it's due to Allah's wish and vice versa. My journey has been tough but I have learnt a lot and my mental toughness has increased a lot"
"If I play 10 matches and don't perform in a couple, it's true that people criticise quite a lot. I can't stop anyone, they have their points of view, I respect them and try to focus on performing well"
"My SR is 80 point something. A human being keeps learning and I do accept that my strike-rate needs to improve a bit. But I also play according to the role I am given, which is different. Fakhar is aggressive and bats with me so my role is to anchor and play through the innings and the same applies for Babar. Sometimes there's ups and downs, you have to respect the bowling if they're bowling well and you have to follow your role"
"If you look at our performances in the last year or 18 months, if one of the top 3 batsmen plays 40-45 overs, we make 300-310. So the management gives us a role which will provide a good platform. My SR can be improved and I am working on it"
(Did Inzamam's presence in UK negatively affect the team) "This is quite an off topic question. I don't think the Chief Selector's presence improves or worsens the team's performances. He is the Chief Selector and was appointed by PCB, his job is to do with selection. Our job is to perform. Whenever he comes, he tries to uplift the morale of the team. If you want to blame him for the first 5 matches, I think that's harsh and I don't really understand"
"In the first 5 matches we didn't perform as we should have. We beat England and that was a good comeback after the WI match. The Australia match was close, I think we should have won that but unfortunately myself and Hafeez bhai got out at the same time. Personally, I haven't seen a Pakistan team come back like that in a World Cup. I think the 4 wins at the end were a very positive sign after we received a lot of criticism"
"I don't use social media on tour, if I do then I will get really upset. We have our personal lives, we have families. If after matches, you focus on our eating, where we go and when we sleep, it will be very difficult for us to perform. OK, we lost to India and we all wanted to win, we were also emotional about losing but it's a sport and that happens. Criticise us on our cricket. My request is that you please keep our personal lives out of it"
"Against Australia, I accept we should have won it, I was set and I got out. It was my responsibility to carry on and I let Pakistan down, I will try to not let it happen again"
"I think England and India are favourites, England have a slight edge because of their batting so I will go with England"
"I think our players have a lot of talent and we can beat any team on our day. Mental toughness depends on how you deal with critics and perform for matches. Criticism will always be there and it should be because you can take it in a positive way. For mental well being, the people around you are very important. If you're around negativity then you will get negative feedback so I try to stay with the team where I get positive vibes. I am very grateful that in this team we support each other and fight for each other. My family is also supportive"
"A person tries to perform in the main matches which can help Pakistan. Unfortunately, I got starts and get out in 40s. If I had scored a hundred earlier in the tournament, it would have helped the team but this is cricket, you have to learn from your mistakes and you can't have it all your way. From the first match, I was trying to give big performances but unfortunately that didn't happen. Sometimes these things don't go in your favour. I accept the criticism that if I had performed earlier in the tournament, it would have been better for the team"
"I don't think any other team did as much fielding preparation as we did. I think this depends on the individual and how much confidence you have, catches are dropped in pressure matches. We realise that in this tournament, our fielding was very poor and we should have done better. It's not as though we don't practice, the fielding coach does his best but unfortunately the results didn't come. I think it depends on individuals and how seriously they take fielding"
"I can't keep critics quiet, nor can I make everyone happy. I try to keep my team happy and there is a big fan following for the Pakistan team so I try to keep them happy with my performances"
"In the meeting before BD game, we decided to see the wicket first and try to be positive and see where we can finish. But the main focus was on winning match, we have to be realistic. 315 run difference was just impossible. When we went in, the wicket was difficult, it was quite slow and the ball wasn't coming onto the bat. We couldn't get into the flow. When I was batting with Babar, we had to fight for our runs. Bangladesh isn't a small team anymore, they played well and are quite professional and good team. Our main focus was to win the match, the wicket didn't allow us to make a score like 500"
"Our job is to perform under any coach and respect him and try to win matches"
"It's true that Rohit Sharma hit 5 hundreds and Shakib Al Hasan had very good performances. This was my first World Cup, same with Babar, we're both 23/24. It will take some time. Rohit Sharma has 200+ matches, Babar has 60-70 matches so it's a little early for a comparison. You need experience and you learn from your mistakes and gain maturity. It's not as though you play 60 matches and start performing like Virat Kohli. They also had many mistakes and lack of performances but they have gained confidence, they have such a good system and since 3-4 years, their openers didn't change. Now you can see their performances. If our players get backing and support from the media and people, good performances are possible"
"No one intends to bat poorly or bowl badly, we all work very hard and we feel bad when we lose. People get upset, but we're playing and it's our responsibility. If I sit here and say this after 200 ODIs or after 100 ODIs that oh I made a mistake, that would be wrong but right now we are trying to remove the mistakes and perform as well as we can"
Babar Azam
"It was my first World Cup and it was quite good for myself and the team. We came back well, everyone performed and individually, it was quite a good World Cup for me. I gained quite a lot of experience from it and learnt a few things about what to improve on"
"Other teams also came to play, unfortunately we couldn't apply ourselves in the first game which led to our NRR suffering"
"After we lose a match to India, no matter what we do, it's painted negatively. If we go anywhere, it's negative, why are we doing this, why are we eating that. This is natural after we lose to India. The media started making a big deal about the yawn, all of us yawn and even during batting, it's not a big deal but you the media make a big deal of it"
"I think England should win the World Cup, they have a good batting lineup and they can chase also. Their openers give them good stands"
"We don't know about India's loss, we were focused on winning our games. We were all focused on giving our 100% and we weren't worried about other results"
"The senior players in our team never let us feel like they are senior, we are all very friendly. They also helped us and gave us feedback and guided us during situations. I don't think any of these 15 players were relu kattas, everyone was selected on their performances for the last 2 years"
"In the Australia match, I shouldn't have gotten out, I played a bad shot. If I had stayed there, we might have gotten good result"
"I am pleased to have broken the record of a legend like Javed Miandad and I feel proud. I wanted to perform well in the World Cup for Pakistan"
"I have gotten out in 40s and 90s sometimes, I try to focus more then because if you go with the flow, you can give away your wicket. I think I make mistakes in the 40s and 90s often, this is a learning process for me, sometimes you succeed and sometimes you don't"
"The talk of grouping happened after the India match, there was nothing before that. As I said, people get after us after the India match. People started talking about grouping and then when we started winning, no one said anything. If 3-4 of us are going somewhere to eat food sitting somewhere, they say there is grouping. This was all due to the India match, there is no such thing. We are all together"
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