Sahibzada Farhan will not only lead Pakistan for the first time but will have a relatively young team to do so at a stage as imposing as the Asian Games. Pakistan have opted for a team which, their head coach Mike Hesson says, is a mixture of their senior and U19 team. Four of the 15-member squad bound for the Asian Games are uncapped, including Saad Masood, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, and Maaz Sadaqat.
Farhan unbothered by lack of experienced players
But that doesn’t do enough to disturb Farhan. He has confidence in the team and the players, who might not bring a wealth of experience in international games, but have done plenty to warrant a place in the team.
“It is not like the players who have been selected for the Asian Games are inexperienced,” he said. “They have all played international cricket [or] come into the team after proving themselves in domestic cricket and the PSL. I have a lot of confidence in these players,” he told reporters on the last day of Pakistan’s pre-departure camp in Karachi.
Pakistan will not have much opportunity to practise after reaching Japan. Like three other teams including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India, Pakistan will begin the Asian Games’ campaign directly from the quarter-finals. This, in addition to a relatively inexperienced squad and alien conditions, could further have complicated the task, had Hesson not gleaned information about conditions on his previous visit to the country.
That has helped Pakistan to mimic the conditions and pitches during their pre-departure training camp in Karachi, which took place from September 21 to September 24. Farhan says the camp helped him and his fellow players to work on their shortcomings and fine-tune their preparations before flying out to Japan.
“I don’t often play sweeps or reverse sweeps, but I have worked on those shots in this camp,” “We have tried to replicate the conditions which we expect to encounter in the Asian Games and played spin more. We have had two scenario matches as well and the players are looking in good shape … We will not have much time to prepare when we reach Japan so we have put in a lot of effort in this four-day camp so we are well-prepared before we land there.”
Lead by example
There would be plenty riding on how things fare for Pakistan in the Asian Games in terms of wider changes in the team. If all goes well, or at least better than it did in the T20 World Cup earlier this year, Farhan might find himself in the race for taking over the captaincy from Salman Ali Agha. Both the PCB and Hesson have maintained that it’s still early days to establish any such notion, but going by Pakistan cricket’s way of doing things, no one should be surprised if it was so. Farhan, however, wants to distance himself from the pressure of being a potential captaincy candidate. He has a bigger task to undertake right now. The task of leading by example.
“It is quite a proud moment to be leading Pakistan,” he said, adding that he would be open to the possibility of continuing in the role after the Asian Games. “There is no pressure on me whether I play as a captain or a player and I will continue to bat how I do [in an aggressive manner] … The players observe what their captain does so as a captain you have to lead by example, which I intend to do.”
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