MOUNT MAUNGANUI – Ahead of the today’s third and final T20, Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed revealed his strategy to win the series against New Zealand, after the five nil whitewash in the ODI series that preceded it.
Talking to the media, Sarfraz said that it was always the plan to lose six consecutive matches against New Zealand to catch them off guard.
“We figured that they would be too strong for us in the ODIs, and it doesn’t matter if you lose 5-0 or 3-2,” Sarfraz told the media.
“The trickier question was over losing the first T20, because we knew we can beat them in the T20 series,” he added.
“That’s when we realised that if we comprehensively lose the first T20 as well, with six wins on the bounce they would start taking us lightly, and that’s when we’ll pounce. Now you can see that we’re actually favourites for today’s match.”
Sarfraz pointed towards the significant disparity in the batting performances between the second T20 and the rest of the tour as proof that the ploy was deliberate.
“I’m really looking forward to going back home with one series a piece, having playing barely six hours of good cricket, on two days in a month long tour,” he maintained.