Pakistan batter Salman Ali Agha believes the the side have not yet displayed a complete team performance in the ongoing One-day International tri-nation series, and hopes the final against Sri Lanka in Lahore on Saturday is where it falls into place.
The hosts’ top-order has been notably starved of runs for the series, underscoring Pakistan’s underwhelming campaign with the bat.“Sometimes all of your players don’t score runs.
Our top order isn’t scoring runs at the moment, like they used to,” Salman said during a press conference on the eve of the match, adding that they have been key performing players for the team over the last few years.
” “They know themselves what they need to do and what they need to work on,” Salman said.
” Salman added that the team always discusses how to put up totals of more than 3oo, and that they needed to focus on converting innings of 50 or 6o runs to big hundreds to help them post the scores they were looking for.
The fragility of Pakistan’s top order is just one of the factors that have gone into the slightly unconvincing cricket the side has played in this series, even in the matches they have won.
Salman said that head coach Mike Hesson always emphasised playing the “perfect game”, where a team aces all of batting, bowling and fielding.
He admitted that Pakistan are yet to play one of those matches so far, with performances being punctuated with batting collapses, patches of underwhelming bowling, and “lapses” in the field.
” Pakistan have been under considerable scrutiny for the elements that have been lacking this series.
However, Salman does not believe those are for a lack of trying or seriousness, especially in response to criticism about him being too relaxed.
“I am playing for Pakistan, how is it possible that I will not be serious about it?” “I made my debut at the age of 28 or 29, and I played domestic cricket for 10 years.
I know how I have reached to this stage, and to reach this point and not take it seriously is beyond me.
” When asked about how much rope out-of-form players should be given in the side, he said a “decent amount of games” that would give them a chance to “overcome” periods of failure is crucial.
“To make runs in international cricket and be consistently successful is not an easy thing to do,” he said, adding that settling into it took time and youngsters brought into the side should be given ample opportunity.
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