Disappointed Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed has revealed he lost sleep for six days during his team’s flop at the Asia Cup.
Pakistan lost their must-win game against Bangladesh by 37 runs in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, meaning they failed to qualify for Friday’s final in Dubai.
Bangladesh will face defending champions India in the final.
Pakistan lost both their games against arch rivals India — by eight and nine wickets — while narrowly beating Afghanistan by three wickets.
Sarfraz said the pressure of captaincy and not scoring runs led to some disturbed nights.
“Look, the pressures of captaincy are always there,” said Sarfraz. “Pakistani captains, whoever they are, always have pressure. Obviously when you aren’t performing and the team is losing then there is more pressure. The truth is that if I say I haven’t slept for the last six nights nobody will believe me, but… this is part of life and it will go on.”
Sarfraz, who was appointed captain for all three formats last year, urged the authorities not to take any hasty decisions.
“I will say again we don’t need to press the panic button. We need to back the players who have been doing well in the recent past,” said Sarfraz, who managed just 68 runs in four matches.
“My performance isn’t good so the team lost. The team lost because of me. I should’ve performed as a captain but I didn’t and we lost because of that.”
Dawn