Sarfraz Ahmed will lead Pakistan team in ICC Champions Trophy 2017. (Source: ICC)
Unlike ICC World Cup and World T20, Pakistan have a better win-loss record against India in the ICC Champions Trophy. Out of the three games the two arch-rivals have played against each other, two have been won by Pakistan while India have won only one game. And Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, leading them in the Champions Trophy 2017, is excited and confident that Pakistan can continue their better record against India in the tournament.
“We have a better record against India in the Champions Trophy, not in other competitions. We are looking to maintain that against them and it’s very exciting,” he said.
India and Pakistan begin their Champions Trophy campaign with a match against each other in Birmingham on June 4, three days after the tournament begins on June 1.
Sarfraz said that Pakistan have nothing to lose in the contest and they are hopeful that Pakistan will play well in the tournament.
“We have nothing to lose, we just want to play our natural game. We have just played a very good series in the West Indies, where the players performed very well. We are very hopeful of playing well in this tournament and we want to win it. It is a very exciting time for us, there have been a lot of practice sessions at Edgbaston and we are ready to play,” he said.
Pakistan played a one-day international series against West Indies before this tournament and won it as well but Sarfraz thinks that the series was more about Pakistan’s improvement.
“Against the West Indies, we had a big fielding improvement, there were one or two dropped catches but it was an improvement so we are happy with that. We don’t see us as having a surprise element, we want to come here and play free cricket, starting against India. We are taking matches one by one and the Pakistan team is hopeful of building some confidence starting in the warm-up matches.”
Before they take on India on June 4, Pakistan will play Bangladesh in a warm-up game on Saturday. Sarfraz praised Bangladesh, who have jumped to sixth in the ICC ODI rankings, ahead of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
“Over the past one-and-a-half years, Bangladesh has performed very well. The warm-up game is a good opportunity for both teams before the Champions Trophy. Both teams want to win so it’s a good practice match to have. Over the past few years they’ve done well and we’ll see its batsmen, like Tamim Iqbal, if we play in the semi-finals,” he said.
Sarfraz knows that this will be the first big tournament for him as a captain. Before this, he has captained Pakistan in four games and won three of them.
“This is my first major tournament as captain, I’m definitely very hopeful and excited about the competition. My aim is to play my own game, to not play under pressure and to just play as I do in domestic cricket,” he said.
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
3 min read
