LAHORE: A number of former cricket captains on Monday said the historic victory of Pakistan cricket team has given a new identity to Pakistan cricket and re-established its status as one of the best cricket teams in the world.
“The team exhibited a heart touching performance proving all predictions wrong by winning a major title after a long gap of two and a half decades”, said Waqar Younis, Younis Khan, Misbahul Haq and Muhammad Yousaf while talking to this agency on Monday.
They said Pak team outclassed India in the final with the extraordinary performance.
“It was a treat to watch young Fakhar Zaman smashing an enterprising century (114) and experienced batsmen Muhammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali contributing valuable half-centuries to inspire Pakistan to a superb total; by Muhammad Amir ripped through the Indian batting and young bowlers, Hassan Ali, Shadab Khan and Junaid Khan underlined their talent with skillful bowling to dismiss India at a low total,” they said.
Waqar said the victory will help serve the cause of cricket at home where international cricket is not being played for many years. “This victory has come at a time when we were struggling in the cricket world, but now it has infused a new confidence. “
Younis Khan termed the performance of the team in final “a rousing show of skills and talent of young players “ and also praised the captaincy of Sarfraz Ahmad.
Misbah described the success “valuable” as such a big title has been achieved after twenty five years after success in 1992 World Cup in Australia.
Muhammad Yousaf said with no international cricket being played in Pakistan, the victory is a silver lining in the dark cloud.
The former captains were of the view that success in the Champions Trophy widely speaks about the rise of cricket in Pakistan despite the fact that foreign teams are not visiting the country for almost one decade.
“Victory in the final has its own significance, it has added to the confidence of the little-known players who performed superbly and has given a new identity to the team after losing to India,” they said.