Sarfaraz Ahmed reveals his batting order for World Cup

Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has proven time and again how successful he can be as a batsman when he bats at number four. Then why won’t he stick to this batting number? That is a question everyone has been asking for quite some time now.

Zainab Abbas, who is hosting the International Cricket Council’s digital coverage of the upcoming World Cup in England and Wales, put forward the question to the skipper on the fans’ behalf following Pakistan’s shock loss to Afghanistan in Friday’s warm-up game.

Citing the abundance of batting talent in the side, Sarfaraz said he has decided to bat at number 5 in the mega tournament.

“We were testing a couple of our players [in the warm-up game]. We have 7, 8 very good batsmen, so it’s difficult,” he explained the reason for not batting up the order.

“Insha’Allah I’ll be batting at number 5 [in the World Cup],” he added.

Ruing the defeat against Afghanistan, Sarfaraz said it was a tough start for Pakistan. “Unfortunately, we were 15, 20 runs short. And also, when we started the bowling I think we conceded too many runs in the first 10 overs.”

“It’s good to see Wahab Riaz back. Hopefully he will do well in next matches as well,” the skipper said.

Commenting on Pakistan’s losing streak since the past 10 ODIs, Sarfaraz said small mistakes cost the team. “If you see these matches, we were close. We made [a few] mistakes that’s why we lost. We will need just one win and we will be back.”