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22 June - Lord's - Pakistan Captain Sarfaraz Ahmed pre-match press conference
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/343846738?byline=0&portrait=0" width="640" height="361" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Q. It's a big game tomorrow, the last one week, how has the world changed for you, because now like till around this time last week, you are confident about getting in there and after that, things seemed to have changed. What is the situation now with the team?
SARFARAZ AHMED: Definitely it is a tough thing for us, but after the match, we give two days rest for the players out of the wicket. But after three days -- before three days, we practising hard. So morale is very high for us. The tournament is now open now, so we have a chance. So we are focussing match by match. So hopefully we will try to win tomorrow's match.
Q. You were in South Africa earlier this year for a series. You just lost that series. It was a very competitive series. How much can we read into that series loss against South Africa, or was it a totally new team, totally new vibe, everything?
SARFARAZ AHMED: If you talk about the South Africa series, it's different. Bilateral series, different type of pressure. We played good cricket but unfortunately we didn't win the series.
But we are very hopeful to against South Africa. In the World Cup, we go against South Africa, it's good for Pakistan, so hopefully we will try for our best.
Q. Sarfaraz, psychologically, how disturbed are you that you are not there where you should be?
SARFARAZ AHMED: I don't think so, but everything is fine. Certainly psychological we see as the pressure as a captain if you lost against India in a World Cup match, people will think we beat; we lost first time in a World Cup.
But we all are okay. We all are backing ourselves, so hopefully we will bounce back in tomorrow's match.
Q. Looking at the South African team, who are the threats you should be aware of?
SARFARAZ AHMED: Not thinking about only the one player. We all know South Africa have good players on their team. So we are all focussing for the whole team.
Q "After losing to India, is the media more dangerous for you or social media?"
A (Laughing) "Media and social media are similar, this is not in our hands. So much is happening, you can't stop anyone. Teams lose and win also, as they used to in the past - if these outlets were available in the past then people might realise how much these things hurt. Now there is social media so people say or write whatever they want. Incidents are happening with the guys and they do psychologically affect the boys. These things shouldn't happen. People see things and hear things and then do these things. They know it's cricket and they forget after a day or 2, but these things keep going on and on and eventually the players are affected and these incidents happen. No one should be abusive, criticise on the cricket, no problem with that"
Q "You won CT 2 years ago and now it's different, how do you feel that you were a hero 2 years ago and now people are criticising you so much. 2nd, should we expect changes to the team tomorrow?"
A "I have always said that cricket is something that can take you high and the next day drop you. I tried to make sure that I don't take myself to such a high, so that if I fall I can't control it. So I tried to remain the same way throughout. Good and bad times happen in everyone's career, all cricketers have seen good or bad times. I stay around some good people who support me in good and bad times and they are with me now also. Hard times are from Allah and I will try my best to come out of it, as a captain and as a team and I will try to perform for my team also. As for team changes, we have made a few changes. The pitch has some grass so we'll decide before the toss"
Q "Former cricketers who have been through this stage themselves in the past are now provoking people, what would you say about that?"
A "I have said that if these things like social media were there in the past then people would realise how difficult it is. You can't stop anyone because there are so many things now. People make videos, there's no personal life. These things affect our families as they see these things. The guys are facing all these things, there's also the team pressure. I just request these people to talk about cricket. Our fans, Pakistani fans are very emotional and when we win, they raise us high and when we lose, they are very angry. Their anger is legitimate but I think that we are even more down-heartened at losing than they are because we know we are playing for Pakistan. We try to win but we accept that we didn't play well as a team and that's correct"
"If I saw anything to them then they will get more upset because in their eyes, we aren't even cricketers. I can't say anything because if I do, then they will say why did he reply, they are sitting like a God on TV"
Q "Can you share how much you are hurt by these incidents? There was a clip of someone using abusive language, and during the India-Pakistan match you were seen yawning so what did you feel upon seeing that?"
A "I yawned, I didn't commit a sin, also that happened after a break during the game. It's a normal thing. Everyone has gotten a lot of views and made money of it, good for them, due to me someone benefited"
Q "What message would you give to the fans?"
A "My message is that the fans have always supported us so they should keep that going in the upcoming matches"
Q "In Pakistan's campaign, the top 3-4 batsmen haven't been able to convert their 50s to 100s. How much difference does that make, that the top 3 haven't been able to make a lot of runs?"
A "In the England series, pitches were a major factor. The pitches we got in that series compared to the pitches in the World Cup were very different. Our top order have made runs but haven't been able to convert those into big runs. We have discussed this with the boys and I am hopeful that we will convert 40s and 50s in the upcoming games. The teams in this World Cup, their top orders are doing well. So we will try to ensure our top order performs well and then we can put up a good target or chase any total"
Q "You met the PM before the WC and he also recommended you to bat first, you didn't take that advice and lost the match, do you have any regrets?"
A "I have the tweet also. Imran bhai said that if the pitch is wet and according to the conditions, you should plan. So I think we tried to do that. We made a team decision and we all thought we should bowl first there. We also kept the rain in mind. When Babar and Fakhar were batting, we were only 9 runs behind DLS. We lost 2 quick wickets which is why the margin suddenly increased"
Q "In the England series the batting performed well, the bowling struggled a bit. In the World Cup, what area do you think you're behind in?"
A "I think we need to improve in all aspects if we are to win upcoming matches. We practised well in the last 3 days and we hope to perform well in remaining games"
Q "After SL won yesterday, the tournament is open. Do you think you can beat SA like you did in the CT and turn things around?"
A "These things can happen, in the CT it was also against SA. We will try to comeback against SA tomorrow and play our best cricket to win"
Q "There was a lot of talk in the media about grouping and there were reports that you said you won't go alone so can you elaborate on that?"
A "There is no such things or groupings, like Hafeez bhai said, these things come up after we lose only. When we win it doesn't happen. The guys are united and committed and want to perform for the team"
Q "SA have also struggled a bit, do you think the teams are equally balanced for tomorrow's match?"
A "Position wise we are equally balanced and both teams will try to win, we will try our best to play good cricket. We played a series against them so we know the team a little bit so we're hopeful of doing well"
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/343846738?byline=0&portrait=0" width="640" height="361" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Q. It's a big game tomorrow, the last one week, how has the world changed for you, because now like till around this time last week, you are confident about getting in there and after that, things seemed to have changed. What is the situation now with the team?
SARFARAZ AHMED: Definitely it is a tough thing for us, but after the match, we give two days rest for the players out of the wicket. But after three days -- before three days, we practising hard. So morale is very high for us. The tournament is now open now, so we have a chance. So we are focussing match by match. So hopefully we will try to win tomorrow's match.
Q. You were in South Africa earlier this year for a series. You just lost that series. It was a very competitive series. How much can we read into that series loss against South Africa, or was it a totally new team, totally new vibe, everything?
SARFARAZ AHMED: If you talk about the South Africa series, it's different. Bilateral series, different type of pressure. We played good cricket but unfortunately we didn't win the series.
But we are very hopeful to against South Africa. In the World Cup, we go against South Africa, it's good for Pakistan, so hopefully we will try for our best.
Q. Sarfaraz, psychologically, how disturbed are you that you are not there where you should be?
SARFARAZ AHMED: I don't think so, but everything is fine. Certainly psychological we see as the pressure as a captain if you lost against India in a World Cup match, people will think we beat; we lost first time in a World Cup.
But we all are okay. We all are backing ourselves, so hopefully we will bounce back in tomorrow's match.
Q. Looking at the South African team, who are the threats you should be aware of?
SARFARAZ AHMED: Not thinking about only the one player. We all know South Africa have good players on their team. So we are all focussing for the whole team.
Q "After losing to India, is the media more dangerous for you or social media?"
A (Laughing) "Media and social media are similar, this is not in our hands. So much is happening, you can't stop anyone. Teams lose and win also, as they used to in the past - if these outlets were available in the past then people might realise how much these things hurt. Now there is social media so people say or write whatever they want. Incidents are happening with the guys and they do psychologically affect the boys. These things shouldn't happen. People see things and hear things and then do these things. They know it's cricket and they forget after a day or 2, but these things keep going on and on and eventually the players are affected and these incidents happen. No one should be abusive, criticise on the cricket, no problem with that"
Q "You won CT 2 years ago and now it's different, how do you feel that you were a hero 2 years ago and now people are criticising you so much. 2nd, should we expect changes to the team tomorrow?"
A "I have always said that cricket is something that can take you high and the next day drop you. I tried to make sure that I don't take myself to such a high, so that if I fall I can't control it. So I tried to remain the same way throughout. Good and bad times happen in everyone's career, all cricketers have seen good or bad times. I stay around some good people who support me in good and bad times and they are with me now also. Hard times are from Allah and I will try my best to come out of it, as a captain and as a team and I will try to perform for my team also. As for team changes, we have made a few changes. The pitch has some grass so we'll decide before the toss"
Q "Former cricketers who have been through this stage themselves in the past are now provoking people, what would you say about that?"
A "I have said that if these things like social media were there in the past then people would realise how difficult it is. You can't stop anyone because there are so many things now. People make videos, there's no personal life. These things affect our families as they see these things. The guys are facing all these things, there's also the team pressure. I just request these people to talk about cricket. Our fans, Pakistani fans are very emotional and when we win, they raise us high and when we lose, they are very angry. Their anger is legitimate but I think that we are even more down-heartened at losing than they are because we know we are playing for Pakistan. We try to win but we accept that we didn't play well as a team and that's correct"
"If I saw anything to them then they will get more upset because in their eyes, we aren't even cricketers. I can't say anything because if I do, then they will say why did he reply, they are sitting like a God on TV"
Q "Can you share how much you are hurt by these incidents? There was a clip of someone using abusive language, and during the India-Pakistan match you were seen yawning so what did you feel upon seeing that?"
A "I yawned, I didn't commit a sin, also that happened after a break during the game. It's a normal thing. Everyone has gotten a lot of views and made money of it, good for them, due to me someone benefited"
Q "What message would you give to the fans?"
A "My message is that the fans have always supported us so they should keep that going in the upcoming matches"
Q "In Pakistan's campaign, the top 3-4 batsmen haven't been able to convert their 50s to 100s. How much difference does that make, that the top 3 haven't been able to make a lot of runs?"
A "In the England series, pitches were a major factor. The pitches we got in that series compared to the pitches in the World Cup were very different. Our top order have made runs but haven't been able to convert those into big runs. We have discussed this with the boys and I am hopeful that we will convert 40s and 50s in the upcoming games. The teams in this World Cup, their top orders are doing well. So we will try to ensure our top order performs well and then we can put up a good target or chase any total"
Q "You met the PM before the WC and he also recommended you to bat first, you didn't take that advice and lost the match, do you have any regrets?"
A "I have the tweet also. Imran bhai said that if the pitch is wet and according to the conditions, you should plan. So I think we tried to do that. We made a team decision and we all thought we should bowl first there. We also kept the rain in mind. When Babar and Fakhar were batting, we were only 9 runs behind DLS. We lost 2 quick wickets which is why the margin suddenly increased"
Q "In the England series the batting performed well, the bowling struggled a bit. In the World Cup, what area do you think you're behind in?"
A "I think we need to improve in all aspects if we are to win upcoming matches. We practised well in the last 3 days and we hope to perform well in remaining games"
Q "After SL won yesterday, the tournament is open. Do you think you can beat SA like you did in the CT and turn things around?"
A "These things can happen, in the CT it was also against SA. We will try to comeback against SA tomorrow and play our best cricket to win"
Q "There was a lot of talk in the media about grouping and there were reports that you said you won't go alone so can you elaborate on that?"
A "There is no such things or groupings, like Hafeez bhai said, these things come up after we lose only. When we win it doesn't happen. The guys are united and committed and want to perform for the team"
Q "SA have also struggled a bit, do you think the teams are equally balanced for tomorrow's match?"
A "Position wise we are equally balanced and both teams will try to win, we will try our best to play good cricket. We played a series against them so we know the team a little bit so we're hopeful of doing well"
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