Pakistan’s highest scorer in their match against India on Sunday, Sahibzada Farhan, who came under much scrutiny for his half-century celebration where he pointed his bat like a gun at the Indian team and appeared to ‘open fire’ has finally responded to the media outrage caused by his actions.
When asked by reporters if there was any political message that Farhan wanted to imply with his celebration, the Pak opener responded by saying that the celebration was just a spur-of-the-moment thing and did not imply any message as such.
“That celebration was just a moment at that time. I do not do a lot of celebrations after scoring 50. But, it suddenly came to my mind that let’s do a celebration today. I did that. I don’t know how people will take it. I don’t care about that,” Farhan told reporters after the match.
“And the rest, you know, you should play aggressive cricket against every team that you play, it does not have to only be India, I would like us to continue to play as aggressively as we have done today,” he added.
India won the Super 4s match by six wickets to continue their stranglehold over the traditional rivals in multilateral tournaments, even as Farhan’s gun-firing gesture in the air after reaching his half-century sparked a controversy.
Farhan on the India-Pak game
When asked about his review of the overall game in general, Farhan responded that he surely would have liked to win after scoring a good half-century but has more or less accepted the result.
“If I had won this match, it would have been very important for me. And yes, performing against India, you know, people highly rate it. So, I think if we had won, it would have been very good,” he said.
The defeat against India has put Pakistan in a must-win situation ahead of their upcoming fixture against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. However the opener for Pakistan remains confident that his side should be able to go past the islanders.
Farhan on the upcoming fixture against Sri Lanka
Opening up about the Pakistan side’s preparation for their upcoming game against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, Farhan said that the boys (Pakistan’s T20 squad) are in excellent form and should be able to deliver a strong performance on Tuesday.
“Preparation is excellent. I think all the boys wish that we would meet them (India) in the finals. The way we were batting and bowling today, we made sure it was not a one-sided match. We took the match to the end, and it was a good competition. I think if we continue to play the same way and improve our performance in the power play, we are sure to win against Sri Lanka on Tuesday,” Farhan told the press after the game.
Upon being asked if there’s any improvement that they would like to make in the next game, Farhan responded by saying that they would look to better utilise the power play and pile up runs in the early overs without giving away any key wickets.
“I think what we missed in the last match was that we were not utilising the power play well. We were giving away early wickets. In the next game, the team is focused on utilising the power play better and not losing wickets upfront,” he concluded.