Champion of Champions Trophy eyes World Cup 2019

KARACHI: Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed on Friday said there were a lot more challenges to overcome and upgrade his team to go the extra mile in World Cup 2019.

“Although, we have achieved numerous feats in short span of time but settling to the same standard of performance (and not capitalising on it) can cause troubles,” said the champion of Champions Trophy 2017 while addressing a ceremony organised by an association of sports journalists in Karachi in his honor. Athletes of different sports games were also present among others on this occasion.

Sarfraz suggested his team members to look forward to more challenges coming their way and stay focused on the set targets.

He said that their performance in the first Test against England at Lord’s was imposing, however they unfortunately failed to carry the winning momentum at Headingley.

“We have talked about it a couple of times and already planned different strategies to turn things in our favor. Hopefully, we will bounce back in the Test series against Australia and New Zealand later this year,” he said.

The number one T20 team’s captain is optimistic ahead of T-20 Tri Nation series featuring Zimbabwe and Australia.

“The boys are gelled and looking forward to play positive cricket to achieve good results in this series,” he said.

To a query regarding absence of Steven Smith and David Warner, he said that Australia were a good side and he did not think that their absence would cause much disturbance in Aussies camp as they have some other very good players.

“No doubt Smith and Warner were the key players for Australia and their presence was crucial for the team but now they have to come up with what they have,” he said.

Pakistan team will attend a training camp in Lahore from June 25 before leaving to Zimbabwe for T-20i Tri-series penciled in from July 1.

Pakistan will take on hosts [Zimbabwe] in the opener on July 1, while the final will be played on July 8.

Following this series, Pakistan will take on Zimbabwe in five matches ODI series scheduled from July 13.

He also lavished praise on the young athletes belonging to Weightlifting, Jujitsu and Squash, who were there to receive their respective awards, and said that he is surprised to see such talented kids representing Pakistan with great passion on international level.

“It is the first time that I meet these kids and literally I feel very proud to see that our country has such talented kids who have potential to bring international laurels to the country,” he said.