REVIVAL: Pakistan recover from collapse to beat Sri Lanka and set up a semifinal against England -
CARDIFF, United Kingdom: Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed hopes the team’s “high confidence” in Cardiff will stand them in good stead when they return to the Welsh capital to face England in a Champions Trophy semifinal on Wednesday.
It will be Pakistan’s second key match at Sophia Gardens in a matter of days after a tense three-wicket victory over Sri Lanka there on Monday saw them into the last four of a tournament featuring the world’s top eight one-day international (ODI) sides.
Pakistan, chasing a seemingly modest 237 for victory, were on the brink of defeat at 137 for six.
But Sarfraz made Sri Lanka pay for dropping him twice with a superb 61 not out and received excellent support from Mohammad Amir (28 not out) in a decisive and unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 75.
It was Sarfraz’s second impressive innings at Cardiff after the wicket-keeper’s 90 on the same ground last year saw Pakistan chase down a target of 303 against England in a four-wicket win that prevented a 5-0 ODI series whitewash.
“We played the last ODI here. We won that time, we chased 300, so definitely our confidence is very high playing in Cardiff,” Sarfraz told reporters after Monday’s nail-biting triumph.
‘Positive cricket’
England, however, have arguably improved their white-ball game even more since that series.
They’ve won 11 of their last 12 matches at this level, a far cry from their woeful first-round exit at the 2015 World Cup, and Eoin Morgan’s men were the only side to exit the group stage of the Champions Trophy with a perfect played three, won three, record.
“England is a very good team, a very, very good team,” said Sarfraz of the tournament hosts.
“If you are playing a world-class team, definitely, you play more positive cricket, so we will do so against England,” he added.
But Sri Lanka might well have won had they dismissed Sarfraz, with Thisara Perera guilty of dropping a simple catch at mid-on when he had made 38. “If we had held those catches, it would have been a different story,” said Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews.
Pakistan certainly made far harder work than they ought to have done of getting to the knockout stage in a winner-takes-all clash given they held Lanka to 236 all out, with pacer Junaid Khan (3 for 40) and Hasan Ali (3 for 43) doing the bulk of the damage. “I think it’s a great win today, and credit goes to the bowlers, who bowled really well at a crucial time,” said Sarfraz. — AFP
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