(Reuters) – Pakistan are keen to break their losing streak at the World Cup, starting with their upcoming match against South Africa, according to all-rounder Shadab Khan. The team has suffered defeats against India, Australia, and Afghanistan after initially securing victories against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
The loss to Afghanistan was particularly disappointing, as Pakistan’s Asian neighbors won by eight wickets, subsequently pushing Pakistan down to fifth place in the standings. However, Shadab expressed confidence in the team’s ability to bounce back and return to winning form when facing difficult situations.
Shadab stated, “I think we have underperformed in all three matches. We haven’t underperformed this way before. We know that we are not playing good cricket. But our team has bounced back from this situation before and hopefully, we will come out of this situation. We have full faith in our team. Our team was playing well before the World Cup. We didn’t play well in the World Cup. It’s not always the case that we, as a team, did not play well. There are bad days, but I think we will start our winning streak from tomorrow.”
Pakistan is also dealing with a negative run rate as they strive for a top-four spot, and Shadab described the match against South Africa as the first of many crucial matches. He pointed out fielding as an area of concern due to dropped catches on batting-friendly wickets, and highlighted that the fast bowlers were struggling as a unit.
Shadab said, “If you drop the catch or you give an easy boundary, then there is no pressure on the batsman and because of that, there is a lot of cost in the end. The way we are fielding is completely different from the standard that we have set. These fast bowlers, they performed very well in the last couple of years for us, everywhere they played. We have faith in them and sometimes you go through these stages. But the main concern is everyone is going through a rough patch at the same time. That’s a problem. So hopefully, it changes tomorrow and everyone starts on their right track.”
Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge
