Defeat to India was disappointing and disheartening, says Sarfaraz

Sarfaraz Ahmed

Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed criticized his team's performance versus India and said that the team looked out of sorts in all three departments of the game; batting, bowling and fielding. He also described the loss as disheartening and dissapointing.

The end of a good partnership and the inability to back up led to his team's 89-run loss at Old Trafford, he said.

Openers Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam had stitched a 104-run stand for the second wicket, which placed Pakistan in a comfortable position before Kuldeep Yadav clean bowled Babar for 48. The wicket of Babar led to a flurry of wickets and Pakistan lost four wickets in a span of just 12 runs last night.

"It was definitely a very disappointing and disheartening defeat. We were going very well, especially if you talk about our batting. Once we lost the first wicket, Fakhar and Baber had a good partnership and we said we just needed to stay at the crease. But then we lost too many wickets afterward and that is why we lost," Sarfaraz said in a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) statement.

The rain interrupted Pakistan's innings after 35 overs. However, after almost 50 minutes, the match was curtailed to 40 overs and the run-chase was adjusted to 302 based on the Duckworth-Lewis (DLS) method. Pakistan needed 136 runs off just 30 balls. Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan were left stranded on 46 and 20, respectively, and Pakistan fell short by 89 runs.

The poor show by Pakistan raised questions about the form of senior players including Sarfaraz, Mohammad Hafeez, and Shoaib Malik. However, the Pakistan captain said that the whole team is not performing well in all three departments.

"You cannot just talk about only the senior players, the whole team is not performing well in all three departments - batting, bowling, and fielding. If you look at this game, our batsmen made a good start and Fakhar and Babar did really well but unfortunately we lost so many wickets - that was the turning point and why we lost," he said.

India batsman Rohit Sharma's match-winning knock of 140 off 113 balls resulted in Pakistan slipping to ninth place with three points in the World Cup standings so far with only one win and three losses in five matches.

The result of the match also helped India build on its head-to-head record in World Cup against Pakistan, which now read 7-0 in favor of Men in Blue. Reflecting on the rivalry, Sarfaraz said that the matches against India are becoming one-sided.

"If you talk about World Cup matches, definitely. We have not won a World Cup game against them. And with the rivalry in general, in the 1990s Pakistan had the upper hand but India are definitely better at the moment and that is why they win more matches. Even in this game, we won a good toss but did not capitalize despite having a pitch with a bit of moisture in it," Ahmed said.

India will next take on Afghanistan on June 22 at the Rose Bowl, while Pakistan will meet South Africa on June 23 at the Lord's.

Pakistan next face South Africa in a do or die game at the Lord's and will have to pick themselves up if they need to have any chances of reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup 2019.

With inputs from ANI

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