Mathews rues missed chances; Sarfraz credits bowlers

Victorious Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed credited his bowlers for his team’s dramatic three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Cardiff.

Pakistan had restricted their opponents to just 236 (Junaid Khan 3-40, Hassan Ali 3-43) but stumbled in their chase, before a record-breaking eight-wicket partnership between the skipper himself (61*) and Mohammad Amir (28*) saw them home.

“I think it’s a great win today, and credit goes to the bowlers,” Sarfraz said.

“They bowled really well at a crucial time. We took the wickets today and upped the batting. Especially Fakhar Zaman (50), he played really well.

“There’s a little bit of concern about the middle order batting. But we’ll be sitting down tomorrow and we’ll sort out the problems.”

Pakistan will face hosts England, the tournament’s form team, in the first semi-final on Wednesday and Sarfraz vowed to meet their positive style of cricket head on.

“England is a very good team – a very, very good team. They’ve been playing really good cricket for the last two years. If you’re playing a world-class team, definitely, you play more positive cricket against. So definitely, we will play more positively against England.”

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews was left to rue missed opportunities after his side dropped several chances – including Sarfraz twice – as well as squandering run out chances at key moments.

“If we had held those catches, it would have been a different story today, especially at very crucial times,” Mathews said.

“First over, and towards the end, where we let go of Sarfraz, was very crucial. Being an international team…I thought we’ve improved a little bit, but today was not really our day.”But he was full of praise for the efforts of Sri Lanka’s bowlers, who went about the task of defending a below-par total manfully.

“I should mention the bowlers’ effort. They batted really well and they came out and bowled really well as well. Unfortunately, they couldn’t win us the game… the fielding let us down. But I’m really proud of the guys, the way they came out and tried to defend that.”

Mathews praised Lasith Malinga – who had three catches dropped off his bowling – but was unable to say how much longer his senior fast bowler would be playing for his country.

“He hasn’t spoken anything about it, but he’s been a great servant for Sri Lanka cricket. He’s been fantastic. We saw the effort that he put in today as well.

“You know, it was unfortunate that we dropped his catches but still he came out and gave his heart out. He is a champion bowler for us.”