Abdullah719
T20I Captain
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
- Runs
- 44,825
Sarfaraz Ahmed speaking after Pakistan beat Zimbabwe 5-0:
"It's a great team effort, we wanted to finish on a high and the team responded well. Fakhar, Imam and Babar did the job for us"
"We're happy and we tried a couple of combinations and the players responded well"
"We'll go home and rest for a few days then we'll start training as we have lots of series coming up, Asia Cup and Test series against AUS/NZ"
"I saw a chance to bowl so did it, in the previous match I wanted to also but Shadab got them out. When I saw the way they were batting today, I felt that I will definitely bowl 2 overs today. I was scared that I might get hit for many sixes. So I bowled against the wind so that I wouldn't get hit too much"
"The tri-series was very important as we were playing against Australia and everyone wanted to see how we'd perform. The boys bounced back well and put in a lot of effort which boosted us. We know Zimbabwe has a young team but we wanted to make sure our spirit is the same as it is against a strong team. We wanted to have high intensity and they boys responded and took advantage"
"Fakhar, Imam and Babar will have benefited from this series and learnt a lot about building innings and taking the match to the end"
"Zimbabwe is a young team and we still have a lot to learn and improve on. We gave Fakhar and Imam maximum chances while opening as this is an area we want to make strong. When we play against top teams and play events, we want to keep improving with the opening pair. We need to improve our strike rotation further, sometimes in the middle overs, we were a bit slow"
"One thing missing in our team was a lower order batsman so we have found Asif Ali. He can do very well for Pakistan. Our intention was to send him to bat at #4 in this series but he didn't get too many opportunities but when the situation needs acceleration, we will definitely give him chances"
"Our fielding standard was a bit low. I think our intensity dropped a bit when they were batting which shouldn't have happened to a professional team. I think we didn't live up to the standards we've set over the past year or so"
"We have been developing the team combination, we try to go in with 5 bowlers. In the last series we have tried Nawaz as a 2nd bowler but here we tried Yasir in case we wanted to play two leg-spinners in future"
"Preparation for the future has been good. We told Fakhar that if you can make 100, then you make 200 also. We told him to develop the innings, in T20 you can play your own way but in ODIs if you take 10-15 balls, it's OK and you can build the innings. We tried all different combinations with 5 batsmen and bowlers"
"Nawaz, Shadab, Imad and Yasir Shah are all spin bowling options for us in all formats. We have a good bunch of spin options. I have impressed with Shinwari's bowling. Hasan Ali looked to have improved while Amir looked to be in good rhythm today"
"When we set up camp in Pakistan, we will try to call chinaman bowlers to practice against. We're watching matches where Kuldeep Yadav has bowled also, he's a bowler for India who can strike in the middle overs so we will try to prepare well so that he can't get too many wickets"
"I have seen Nawaz bowling chinaman and Haris Sohail has also practiced quite a lot in the nets also, bowling chinaman. Bowlers should try to develop their skills, you can see Santner as an example who bowls some different deliveries and also got Fakhar out once"
"We told Fakhar Zaman that if you score 100 in 30 overs and then play out the next 15 or 20 overs then you can make 200. After 30 overs, he started hitting those Pathan walay shots so we thought let him be, if he is going to do it then he will manage himself. After 35 overs, we didn't send him any messages. He performed exceptionally on the whole tour, playing an excellent knock in the final against Australia also"
"Test match captaincy is completely different as you need to judge the whole game and make important good decisions about the team combinations. If you look at our team, the opening slot is a concern. We can definitely try Fakhar in Tests in UAE. The way he's been playing, he is an opener who can attack the opposition. I am hopeful that he plays Test cricket in the near future. I have captained in 4-5 matches so far so I am in the learning phase"
"Hasan didn't tell us about Shadab doing his celebration but it's good that he didn't do it himself as we saw how he injured his neck last time"
"We focused on each match one by one, the credit goes to the players as they were very focused and didn't take Zimbabwe lightly, we weren't thinking about whitewash"
"Everyone wanted to bat but myself and Shoaib bhai didn't get much of a chance but we're happy to see our young players performing specially Fakhar and Imam"
"Zimbabwe team is not the same as it was in the past but it's not our fault to be playing against a young team. Our preparation was to play the Asia Cup and we learnt a lot here"
"It's a great team effort, we wanted to finish on a high and the team responded well. Fakhar, Imam and Babar did the job for us"
"We're happy and we tried a couple of combinations and the players responded well"
"We'll go home and rest for a few days then we'll start training as we have lots of series coming up, Asia Cup and Test series against AUS/NZ"
"I saw a chance to bowl so did it, in the previous match I wanted to also but Shadab got them out. When I saw the way they were batting today, I felt that I will definitely bowl 2 overs today. I was scared that I might get hit for many sixes. So I bowled against the wind so that I wouldn't get hit too much"
"The tri-series was very important as we were playing against Australia and everyone wanted to see how we'd perform. The boys bounced back well and put in a lot of effort which boosted us. We know Zimbabwe has a young team but we wanted to make sure our spirit is the same as it is against a strong team. We wanted to have high intensity and they boys responded and took advantage"
"Fakhar, Imam and Babar will have benefited from this series and learnt a lot about building innings and taking the match to the end"
"Zimbabwe is a young team and we still have a lot to learn and improve on. We gave Fakhar and Imam maximum chances while opening as this is an area we want to make strong. When we play against top teams and play events, we want to keep improving with the opening pair. We need to improve our strike rotation further, sometimes in the middle overs, we were a bit slow"
"One thing missing in our team was a lower order batsman so we have found Asif Ali. He can do very well for Pakistan. Our intention was to send him to bat at #4 in this series but he didn't get too many opportunities but when the situation needs acceleration, we will definitely give him chances"
"Our fielding standard was a bit low. I think our intensity dropped a bit when they were batting which shouldn't have happened to a professional team. I think we didn't live up to the standards we've set over the past year or so"
"We have been developing the team combination, we try to go in with 5 bowlers. In the last series we have tried Nawaz as a 2nd bowler but here we tried Yasir in case we wanted to play two leg-spinners in future"
"Preparation for the future has been good. We told Fakhar that if you can make 100, then you make 200 also. We told him to develop the innings, in T20 you can play your own way but in ODIs if you take 10-15 balls, it's OK and you can build the innings. We tried all different combinations with 5 batsmen and bowlers"
"Nawaz, Shadab, Imad and Yasir Shah are all spin bowling options for us in all formats. We have a good bunch of spin options. I have impressed with Shinwari's bowling. Hasan Ali looked to have improved while Amir looked to be in good rhythm today"
"When we set up camp in Pakistan, we will try to call chinaman bowlers to practice against. We're watching matches where Kuldeep Yadav has bowled also, he's a bowler for India who can strike in the middle overs so we will try to prepare well so that he can't get too many wickets"
"I have seen Nawaz bowling chinaman and Haris Sohail has also practiced quite a lot in the nets also, bowling chinaman. Bowlers should try to develop their skills, you can see Santner as an example who bowls some different deliveries and also got Fakhar out once"
"We told Fakhar Zaman that if you score 100 in 30 overs and then play out the next 15 or 20 overs then you can make 200. After 30 overs, he started hitting those Pathan walay shots so we thought let him be, if he is going to do it then he will manage himself. After 35 overs, we didn't send him any messages. He performed exceptionally on the whole tour, playing an excellent knock in the final against Australia also"
"Test match captaincy is completely different as you need to judge the whole game and make important good decisions about the team combinations. If you look at our team, the opening slot is a concern. We can definitely try Fakhar in Tests in UAE. The way he's been playing, he is an opener who can attack the opposition. I am hopeful that he plays Test cricket in the near future. I have captained in 4-5 matches so far so I am in the learning phase"
"Hasan didn't tell us about Shadab doing his celebration but it's good that he didn't do it himself as we saw how he injured his neck last time"
"We focused on each match one by one, the credit goes to the players as they were very focused and didn't take Zimbabwe lightly, we weren't thinking about whitewash"
"Everyone wanted to bat but myself and Shoaib bhai didn't get much of a chance but we're happy to see our young players performing specially Fakhar and Imam"
"Zimbabwe team is not the same as it was in the past but it's not our fault to be playing against a young team. Our preparation was to play the Asia Cup and we learnt a lot here"