Former champions Pakistan, who lifted the title in 2009, enter the tournament amid controversy following their decision to boycott the February 15 group match against arch-rivals India. The move was taken in solidarity with Bangladesh, who were replaced by Scotland after it refused to travel to India on security grounds.
Asked how the team is coping with the situation, Salman said the focus is on cricket. “By avoiding it. It’s something that we don’t really talk about as a group and we don’t really see what’s going on outside of the group. And I think that’s the best thing we can do. We can avoid all of that and just focus on our game.”
Since September last year, Indian teams have adopted a policy of not shaking hands with Pakistan in international matches in solidarity with the victims of the Pahalgam attack. Salman said such a development was unfortunate. “We don’t really feel hurt or anything like that. But it’s not good for the game. Obviously these things shouldn’t happen,” he said.
He emphasized the responsibility players have, adding: “Growing up as a kid, I always saw people doing what was needed to improve the game. We’re role models to a certain extent… So I think these things shouldn’t happen. Because if you think about role models, I don’t think role models do this.”
By boycotting the match against India, Pakistan will lose two crucial points, meaning they need to win their remaining three matches to advance. In addition to India, their group includes the Netherlands, USA and Namibia.
Salman insisted that there was no further pressure. “No, there is no pressure because whenever you come to an ICC tournament, you have to win almost all your games,” he said, adding that the team came in expecting to win every game.
Pakistan could also face weather problems in Colombo, where their group matches are scheduled, with their only warm-up game against Ireland having been lost. “We can’t control the weather… and we’re only thinking about how to win the three games we have…”
Addressing criticism of Pakistan’s ICC performance against India, Salman said the priority was improvement. “We can’t run away from it…our aim is to improve our game and the mistakes we made earlier should not be repeated.
He acknowledged the death bowling as a concern but expressed optimism and also backed Usman Tariq amid scrutiny of his action. “Yeah, he’s the X Factor team… we’ll definitely use him there.
platoons:
Netherlands team: Michael Levitt, Max ODowd, Bas de Leede, Zach Lion Cachet, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards (v/c), Noah Croes, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Kyle Klein, Paul van Meekeren, Timm van der Gugten, Saqib Zulfiq
Pakistan Squad: Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Salman Agha(c), Khawaja Nafay(w), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, Sahibzada Farhan, Usman Khan, Salman Mirza, Usman Khan, Salman Mirza, Usman