Pak banking on their record against India

Birmingham, May 26 

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed is confident that his team will be able to maintain their superior record in the Champions Trophy against archrivals India as they gear up for a showdown on June 4.

Unlike in the World Cup and World T20, Pakistan have a positive record against India in the competition - winning two and losing one of their previous meetings.

“We have a better record against India in the Champions Trophy, not in other competitions. We are looking to maintain that,” said the Pakistan skipper. And while the game against India will be particularly special for the fans back home, Ahmed said his side will take one game at a time.  “We have nothing to lose, we just want to play our natural game. We have just played a very good series in the West Indies, the players performed very well there.

“We are very hopeful of playing well in this tournament and we want to win it. It is a very exciting time for us, there have been a lot of practice sessions at Edgbaston and we are ready to play,” he said.

He said the team has rectified the mistakes it made in the West Indies. “Against West Indies, we had some issues with our fielding and catching but it’s all sorted now.”

The skipper promised to play with freedom in the tournament. “We want to play free cricket, starting against India. We are taking matches one by one and we are hopeful of building some confidence in the warm-up matches.”      Ahmed also praised Bangladesh, with the two teams set to meet here for a warm-up match on Saturday. Sixth-ranked Bangladesh are playing their first Champions Trophy since 2006 and currently sit higher than Pakistan in the rankings. “Over the past one-and-a-half years, Bangladesh have performed very well,” he said.  Having taken over captaincy only in February, this is his first major tournament at the helm . “This is my first major tournament as captain, I’m definitely very hopeful and excited about the competition.” — PTI