Sarfraz Nawaz: “Not a single batsman was out on an unplayable delivery”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Ex-Pakistan seamer Sarfraz Nawaz has lashed out at the national team’s batsmen for their lacklustre performance in their World Cup match against Australia on Wednesday.

While many of Pakistan’s batsmen made good starts, with opener Imam-ul-Haq bringing up a fifty, none of them managed to convert it into big scores.

Ultimately, Pakistan found themselves struggling at 160/6 in their chase of 308 to win, but Hasan Ali and Wahab Riaz provided some late fireworks as they smashed 32 and 45 respectively.

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed, meanwhile, scored 40 and was the last man to fall.

“Wahab and Hasan Ali gave respectability to Pakistan’s chase, otherwise all was lost when Pakistan had lost [six] wickets with [160] odd runs on the board,” Sarfraz told The Nation. “I am highly surprised [about those] who claim Pakistan was at the brink of winning and upsetting the mighty Aussies. The way the Pakistani batsmen just gifted their wickets was hard to absolve, not a single batsman was out on an unplayable delivery.

“The Pakistan batsmen were fishing at wayward deliveries. Imam was the funniest of all, as he was offering almost no stroke and was out caught behind on a leg side delivery, which had he not touched, it would have been a certain wide ball.

“Asif Ali was giving catching practice to slip fielders while despite knowing well that Shaheen Shah Afridi was last man at the crease, Sarfraz (Ahmed) took single and allowed Shaheen to play the next over.”

Pakistan lost to Australia by 41 runs and will be looking to bounce back in their next World Cup match against their arch-rivals India in Manchester on Sunday.

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