Pakistan’s tour of England might have ended with a heavy defeat but that hasn’t stopped skipper Sarfraz Ahmed from feeling proud of his young side’s achievements.
England bounced back from their nine-wicket thrashing at Lord’s to beat Pakistan by an innings and 55 runs in the second Test at Headingley on Sunday to square up the two-match series at 1-1.
Despite that chastening defeat, Sarfraz remained in a bullish mood with Pakistan’s progress over the summer which also included an one-off Test against Ireland at Dublin.
“When we came here people thought we will not win one game but the way we played at Lord’s everything was perfect, our fast bowling was perfect, our batting and fielding were perfect,” Sarfraz said after the defeat on Sunday.
“It’s disappointing that we had a chance to win the series but unfortunately we didn’t play well here,” he added.
Pakistan pacer Mohammad Abbas finished as the highest wicket-taker from either side in the series with 10 wickets while young leg-spinner Shadab Khan recorded three half-centuries in three Tests. Sarfraz reserved special praise for the two players in his post-match comments.
Sarfraz heaped praise on pacer Mohammad Abbas for his impact.
“I am proud of my young team, the way Abbas is bowling, Shadab is doing well, Faheem Ashraf did well, so I’m really disappointed that we didn’t win [at Headingley] but 1-1 is good for us,” he stated.
While the form of the youngsters was highly encouraging, the display of some senior squad members including Azhar Ali and Sarfraz himself fell way short of expectations. Sarfraz acknowledged his own poor-show and expressed confidence in Azhar finding form again.
“Azhar is our main batsman, it’s correct he is not in good nick but he scored a good fifty at Lord’s. I am not satisfied with my batting in the series. I committed mistakes and played a few bad shots,” the Pakistan skipper explained.
Pakistan will now embark for Edinburgh where they are slated to play two T20Is against Scotland on June 12 and 13.