National team captain Salman Ali Agha also spoke about the ‘difficult pitches’ of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, saying that it is not possible to prepare for mega events on these wickets.
Responding to questions from journalists at the post-match press conference, national cricket team captain Salman Ali Agha said that if anyone asks me about the preparation for the Asia Cup and the World Cup, I will say that this was not the preparation we wanted. I don’t think we will get such conditions anywhere else. I have not seen such wickets anywhere except Bangladesh.
He said that I never said anything about the wicket, I am only saying that these were not ideal wickets for preparing for the Asia Cup and the World Cup, because we will not get such wickets in the future. However, I have no problem with these wickets.
Salman Ali Agha said that we are international players, and wherever we have to go as a team, we have to adapt ourselves to the conditions there and perform well.
The national team captain further said that we definitely assessed the situation, but we could not implement our plans correctly, not that we did not assess, but the way we should have done things on the field, we could not do it.
He said that the team we want to build, I think we are on the right track, we are following a process, with this, whether we qualify for the Olympics or Asia or the World Cup, it does not matter, if we continue to follow the process, all these things will come together automatically.
In response to a question, Salman Ali Agha said that during the New Zealand tour, I scored 2 fifties, also scored a 40-plus, after that I scored 50 against Bangladesh at home ground.
Yes, I could not perform in these 2 matches, but since I became the captain, my T20 numbers have improved, if you feel that way, then that is your opinion, but I think I am going on the right path.
The captain of the Pakistan T20 team added that every player has to learn and improve his ability, that is my effort, but as far as my performance is concerned after captaincy, I do not think it has gone down.
Salman Ali Agha said that as a team and a player, we talk about team and individual performance, we also want that there is continuity in the performance of the Pakistan team and our players, that is our effort.
The national team captain praised Sahibzada Farhan’s performance in the third T20 match and said that the opening batsman played a brilliant game. Farhan put pressure on the bowlers from the very beginning of the batting and we as a team also talk about putting pressure on the bowlers. Sahibzada Farhan did the same today. We played a better game today compared to the first two matches.
Earlier, after the defeat in the first T20 match, the head coach of the national white-ball team, Mike Hesson, had termed the pitch of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium as unacceptable, saying that this ‘pitch’ was not beneficial for anyone. If you are preparing for the Asia Cup or the World Cup, this pitch is unacceptable. It is not appropriate to have such a pitch in international cricket. It was not of international standard. It should be noted that in the last match of the T20 series played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, Pakistan defeated the host Bangladesh by a huge margin of 74 runs. However, the Bengal Tigers won the series 1-2.