Misfiring Pakistan take on rampaging South Africa

Chennai, October 26

Pakistan have underperformed at the World Cup having lost three matches in a row but they are eyeing a winning streak starting with their group match against South Africa, all-rounder Shadab Khan said today.

Pakistan began the tournament with wins over Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing to India, Australia and Afghanistan. The last defeat was a major upset as their Asian neighbours won by eight wickets to leave Pakistan fifth in the standings, but Shadab said they can return to winning ways with their backs against the wall.

“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,” Shadab said.

“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,” he added.

Pakistan also have a negative run rate to contend with as they fight for a top-four spot and Shadab said the clash against South Africa is the first of many “do-or-die matches”. Shadab identified their fielding as a cause for concern after dropped catches on batting-friendly wickets and also said the fast bowlers were struggling as a unit. — Reuters