‘Was not easy for them…’: Pakistan skipper Salman Agha defends his side following New Zealand series defeat

The Pakistan T20I captain argued that several players in their team were featuring in their first overseas series and that is why it was quite difficult for them to win against the Kiwis

Pakistan’s T20 captain, Salman Ali Agha, is not disheartened by the 1-4 defeat in the just-concluded series in New Zealand and believes that the new faces tried out in the matches will eventually come through.

“Look the conditions in New Zealand are normally challenging with the bounce, pace and movement in the pitches, so for players coming to play here for the first time it is always going to be difficult,” Agha said following his side’s defeat in the 5th T20I.

Salman, who is captaining the side in preparation for this year’s Asia Cup and next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, said the new players should settle down by then.

“It was not easy for them to bat in these conditions. There are some silver linings from the series and some concerns as well but we have to address them before we go into the Asia Cup later this year,” Agha said.

Salman, who was in good form in the series and scored a half century on Wednesday, said that it was necessary for players to understand that with aggression and intent they also have to use their minds.

“We didn’t play sensible cricket in the series most of the time and got out to bad shots. But with more exposure these new young players will learn and we have to be patient,” Agha concluded.

Pakistan selectors experimented by including plenty of youngsters in the T20 squad while dropping experienced players like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.