Asia Cup 2018: I did not sleep for six days, says Sarfraz Khan after Pakistan’s dismal show

Pakistan’s horrifying show in the 2018 Asia Cup took a tool on skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, who revealed that he did not sleep for six days. A batting failure coupled with poor fielding resulted in Pakistan losing their must-win game against Bangladesh by 37 runs in their last Super Four match on Wednesday. Earlier, Pakistan had lost both their matches against arch-rivals India, but beat Afghanistan in a last-over finish.

“Look, the pressures of captaincy are always there. Pakistani captains, whoever they are, always have pressure. Obviously, when the team is losing, there is more pressure. The truth is that I haven’t slept for the last six nights, but nobody will believe me, this is part of life and it will go on,” said Sarfraz.

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

Sarfraz, who was appointed captain for all three formats last year, said that authorities need not press the panic button. “We need to back the players who have been doing well in the recent past,” he said.

Sarfaz has been playing continuous cricket since the World Cup 2015. Asked if he needed said, he said: “This is not my job, this is the job of the selection committee and the PCB. Let them decide. My job is to play and I will keep playing.”

With the 2019 World Cup eight months away and Pakistan still having to play another 20 ODIs before the main event in England and Wales, Sarfraz said that there is time to rectify mistakes. “We have to look at the various mistakes we committed. Our middle order comes fails while facing the new ball and that is why we struggled. We should not lose early wickets, so we will work on that,” he said.

Pakistan will next play a two-match Test series against Australia beginning on October 7 in Dubai.