Pakistan’s captain Salman Agha feels confident about facing India again in the Super Four. His team barely defeated the UAE but managed to qualify for the next round. Agha knows Pakistan must play much better cricket against stronger teams ahead.
Pakistan’s Scary Win Against UAE
Pakistan started their batting very poorly against the UAE’s bowling attack yesterday. The team collapsed to just 93 runs for 6 wickets lost. Many fans thought Pakistan would lose this crucial match completely.
Shaheen Afridi saved Pakistan with his brilliant batting at the end. He scored 29 runs not out from just 14 balls faced. Fakhar Zaman also helped by making 50 runs from 36 balls earlier.
Pakistan finished with 146 runs for 9 wickets in their innings. This total looked very small for winning any T20 match. The batting lineup disappointed captain Salman Agha and Pakistani cricket fans badly.
But Pakistan’s bowling attack performed well against the UAE’s batting. Abrar Ahmed took 2 wickets for 13 runs. Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf also took 2 wickets each.
UAE got all-out for 105 runs in 17.4 overs. Pakistan won this match, but their performance worried fans.
Captain’s Plans for India Match
“We got the job done, but we still need to improve our batting in the middle order. That’s been a concern and something we need to work on. Apart from that, we did a good job. We haven’t batted at our best yet…we’re still just finding our way to 150.”
“If we bat well in the middle overs, we can push it to 170 no matter the opposition. Shaheen’s batting has improved a lot–he’s already great with the ball. Saim is someone who has been bringing us back into games, and I hope he can continue like this till the end,” Agha said.
Salman Agha admitted his team’s middle-order batting needs major improvement quickly. Pakistan cannot score only 150 runs against India’s bowling. The captain wants his batsmen to play better next time.
Ready for the Big Challenge
Agha remembers the handshake controversy from their previous match against India. Suryakumar Yadav refused to shake hands after that game ended. This behavior upset Pakistani players and officials very much then.
“We’re ready for any challenge, and if we keep playing the way we have over the last four months, we’ll be good against any side,” he said.
The Pakistan Cricket Board complained about match referee Andy Pycroft’s decisions earlier. They wanted the ICC to remove Pycroft from his position. But the ICC rejected Pakistan’s demand to change the referee.
Captain Salman Agha believes Pakistan can beat India in the Super Four. He thinks consistent batting and bowling performances will help them win. The team must forget past controversies and focus on playing cricket.
