Video: Warm welcome for Pakistan captain Sarfaraz after World Cup exit

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Video: Warm welcome for Pakistan captain Sarfaraz after World Cup exit

Karachi - He held a press conference after landing in Karachi.

By Web Report

Published: Sun 7 Jul 2019, 4:57 PM

Last updated: Sun 7 Jul 2019, 8:26 PM

Pakistan cricket captain Sarfaraz Ahmed received a warm welcome at Karachi airport despite the team's early exit out of the ICC World Cup 2019.
In a video posted online, a crowd of fans received Ahmed and his family amid chants of 'Pakistan Zindabad' (Long live Pakistan) as he returned from UK with his family on Sunday.
The boys in green could not qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup this time - due to their poor start against India and West Indies in the qualifying rounds. However, the team made a strong comeback in their last four matches, by winning them all, but were ousted on net run rate. New Zealand finally booked the fourth semi spot that Pakistan was vying for in their match against Bangladesh, where they needed to win by a margin of 300+ runs.

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Cricket team captain Sarfaraz Ahmed returns from the United Kingdom to Karachi. #DawnToday #DawnViralToday
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In a post match press conference, Ahmed lamented that their horrendous batting show against the West Indies when they were dismissed for just 105 cost Pakistan dear in the World Cup.
Pakistan exited from the showpiece on Friday, despite beating Bangladesh by 94 runs, their fourth successive win.

Top four teams qualified for the semifinals and Pakistan (-0.43) finished at number five with 11 points, tied with New Zealand (0.175), but were beaten on Net-Run-Rate (NRR) by the Kiwis.

Their game against Sri Lanka was washed out and that also did not help their cause. They won four games in a row but still poor NRR hurt the side.

"It's very unfortunate. We played good cricket but haven't qualified. That one game, against West Indies, cost us the tournament. Boys responded well after the India game. Did well in all three after that - batting, bowling, fielding," said Sarfaraz at the post match presentation ceremony.

West Indies had chased the 106-run target in just 13.4 overs, hurting Pakistan's NRR.

Asked what's the way forward for Pakistan, the skipper said they need to sit down and plan.

"We have two months off, and we need to do a lot of work with the team. At the moment, when team is winning everything is fine. Credit to our batsmen - Imam, Babar and Haris. And the bowlers - Amir, Shadab, Wahab, Shaheen."

Sarfaraz also picked 19-year-old Shaheen Afridi for special praise as he picked up six wickets to become the youngest to take a five-wicket haul in World Cup.
The skipper also addressed a press conference in Pakistan on Sunday.

yousufk@khaleejtimes.com
(With inputs from PTI)