Bazid Khan: “To be honest, Pakistan fared better than what I had expected”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Former Pakistan batsman Bazid Khan has admitted that he thought the national team would struggle to finish in the top six at the World Cup.

Bazid didn’t think Pakistan would finish with a record of five wins, three losses and one washout.

The men in green fell agonisingly short of advancing to the semi-finals as New Zealand had a better net run rate than them.

Given Pakistan’s record in ODIs this year, where they lost 3-2 to South Africa, 5-0 to Australia and 4-0 to England, Bazid admitted that he thought their struggles would continue at the World Cup.

“To be honest, Pakistan fared better than what I had expected,” he told cricketcountry.com. “Since the 2017 Champions Trophy, which we won, our record against the top six teams in ODI cricket is pretty bad. In the build-up to the World Cup, we were whitewashed 5-0 by Australia in a series where the selectors said they were experimenting, and then 4-0 to England. On the basis of these results, it did not look to me like Pakistan would finish in the top six at the World Cup.

“Overall if you see, Pakistan’s performance was pretty good considering what happened early in the tournament. You finished fifth out of ten teams, narrowly missing the semi-finals. But if you look at it closely, the disappointing aspect is that in the first few matches you didn’t give yourself the best chance.”

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