Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan has promised an attacking brand of cricket when his side faces arch-rival India on February 15, declaring that the team will stick to an aggressive mindset in the high-voltage encounter.
Speaking after Pakistan’s 32-run win over the USA, Farhan said there would be no change in approach despite the magnitude of the fixture. “We’ll go in with the same mindset as we did in our previous matches against India, including the Asia Cup. We’ll try to stay positive and play attacking cricket,” he said.
Farhan led by example against the United States, hammering a blistering 73 that anchored Pakistan’s commanding total. His knock earned him the Player of the Match award and helped his team bounce back strongly after a nervy opening victory over the Netherlands.
Reflecting on his performance, Farhan revealed he had felt in rhythm even before stepping onto the field. “The way we practised yesterday, the ball was coming onto my bat really well in the nets. I had already told our batting coach (Hanif Malik) yesterday that I was getting a good feeling for today’s match,” he said.
The opener added with confidence: “I was confident. I even said, I will finish the match in a way that earns me the player-of-the-match award. I’ve set a personal target for myself, to win at least two to three player-of-the-match awards in this World Cup.”
Captain Salman Agha echoed the sentiment, describing a side capable of adapting to any match situation. “We are comfortable chasing, but we try to bat first and put up above par, then try to defend. We have a flexible order, first three ready to go and then finishers can go early, or if we lose wickets we have batters who can take the game deeper,” he said.
After edging past the Netherlands earlier in the tournament, Pakistan’s batting looked far more assured against the USA. “Clinical performance, we started well with the bat and batted really well in the middle. When we come to bowling we have a world-class attack, and scoring 190, we know we could defend that,” Salman added.
However, he admitted improvements were needed. “Always room for improvement, we’d like to bowl better in the powerplay, be more clinical. These are the things we want to improve.”
USA captain Monank Patel expressed disappointment after his team’s second straight loss. “Thought we bowled well in the powerplay but not the middle overs, we gave up a lot of runs. Came back at the death, the pace bowlers bowled well,” he said.
With hopes of reaching the Super Eights fading, Patel insisted his side would fight on. “We’ve been playing good cricket, coming here we were confident but small mistakes cost you. We want to finish this WC strong with two wins.”
