Sarfaraz hits back at critics ahead of Sylhet Test

Pakistan head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed has brushed aside mounting criticism directed at his senior players on social media, insisting that the team’s sole focus is on bouncing back in the second and final Test against Bangladesh in Sylhet starting Saturday.

Pakistan’s crushing defeat in Mirpur — where Bangladesh won by 104 runs to take a 1-0 series lead — sparked a wave of criticism back home, with several senior players and captain Shan Masood coming under fire from former cricketers and fans alike.

But Sarfaraz, himself a former Pakistan captain who has experienced the heat of public scrutiny throughout his career, was unfazed.

“You talk about the criticism for our senior players — it is not new for us,” he said on Friday. “Definitely, we all know if we are not playing good cricket, the criticism is there. So, we are not worrying about the social media things. Our focus is to play the next match. Hopefully, my captain and all the team will play good cricket in the next matches.”

Sarfaraz also identified discipline as the key area his side must improve upon in Sylhet. “We need to be more disciplined. If you talk about playing Test matches, we need to be disciplined with bowling length and batting more patiently,” he noted.

On the mental challenge of recovering from such a heavy defeat, the coach was characteristically direct. “What happened in the past has happened. We are not talking about the previous match. We are focused on our next match and we will bounce back,” he stated.

Pakistan will be boosted by the return of Babar Azam, who missed the Mirpur Test with a knee injury, as they look to level the series and avoid a historic whitewash.