Pakistan will go all out in their final World Cup league-round fixture with Bangladesh on Friday despite facing a near impossible task to qualify for the semi-finals, skipper Sarfraz Ahmed said on the eve of the match at Lord’s.
Pakistan, fifth in the standings behind New Zealand who occupy the fourth and final knockout berth, have to bat first against the already-eliminated Bangladesh and win by a margin of at least 316 runs to leapfrog the Kiwis on net run rate.
“It is very difficult, 316 runs is a big margin. Only if you’re batting first, if you score 600 runs or 500 runs,” the skipper told reporters. “I don’t know what the study is behind this, but I can’t do anything… definitely, we’re interested in finishing on a high note. So we will try our best in tomorrow’s match.”
Pakistan will also be playing for pride, having been beaten by their South Asian rivals in the last four meetings going back to 2015.
“If you talk about the previous matches, yes, Pakistan lost four, but it is a World Cup match. Both teams look stronger, so hopefully we will do well as a team,” Sarfraz added.
Pakistan’s highest total at the tournament is the 348-8 they made in their shock win over England. The host nation’s 397-6 against Afghanistan is the best of the World Cup so far.
Sarfraz said it had been tough to post big totals on the pitches being used in the competition.
“If you look at the tournament then, realistically, the tournament is of 280-300 totals,” said Sarfraz. “If you look at the pitches, they were not for free-scoring. They were tough for batting with spin and the ball was not coming onto the bat.”
Pakistan were shot out for a paltry 105 in their first match, with the West Indies winning in just 13.4 overs, meaning they took a huge hit on run rate.
Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes, meanwhile, said the pressure will be definitely on Pakistan.
