Sahibzada Farhan, the remorseless opening batsman for Pakistan, played the part of the pantomime villain by claiming he doesn’t “care about what people think” about the inflammatory gun-firing celebration he brought out during the Asia Cup match against India in Dubai.
Even though Farhan’s gun-firing gesture in the air after achieving his half-century caused controversy, India won the Super 4s match by six wickets to maintain their control on the traditional adversaries in multilateral tournaments.
“That celebration was just a moment at that time. I do not do a lot of celebrations after scoring 50. But, it suddenly came to my mind that let’s do a celebration today. I did that. I don’t know how people will take it. I don’t care about that,” Farhan told reporters after the match.
“And the rest, you know, you should play aggressive cricket wherever you play. It is not necessary that it is India. You should play aggressive cricket against every team, like we played today,” he added.
Farhan’s innings of 58 off 45 balls helped Pakistan reach 171/5 in 20 overs, but following the brilliant efforts of Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, India finished the game in the penultimate over of their run chase.
After hitting a six off Axar Patel in the tenth over to complete his fifty, the 29-year-old Pakistani brandished his bat like a gun and fired rounds into the air, an action that many on social media found controversial.
However, Farhan acknowledged that his knock would have had more significance had his team been on the victorious side.
“If I had won this match, it would have been very important for me. And yes, performing against India, you know, people highly rate it. So, I think if we had won, it would have been very good,” he said.
The loss to India has put Pakistan in a must-win situation against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, but Farhan remains confident they can overcome the islanders and secure a spot in the finals.
“I think the way we played (against India), the way we batted, the boys are very confident. And regarding Sri Lanka, we will win the match. Because, it is a do-or-die match.
“Preparation is excellent. I think all the boys wish that we will meet them (India) in the finals.
“The way we were batting, the way we were bowling today, I mean, it was not a one-sided match. We took the match to the end and it was a good competition.”
He stated that the team’s goal for the upcoming match is to make better use of the power play and avoid losing wickets up front.
“I think in the last matches what we missed was that we were not utilising the power-play well. We were giving away early wickets. So, it is important for you, as a batsman, that you absorb the pressure, do the power-play well, and not give wickets.
“Our power-play was very good (against India) and we also had 90-something runs in 10 overs. We collapsed in the middle, and God willing, we will do that better (against Sri Lanka),” Farhan said.
