ISLAMABAD: Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed said there’s no reason to be apologetic after Pakistan failed to qualify for the semifinals of Cricket World Cup, narrowly losing out to New Zealand because of its inferior net run rate.
“There’s no need to say sorry because it is not like that we are coming back with two or four points next to our name,” Sarfaraz told reporters on Sunday after arriving home from England.
“We couldn’t play well initially, but picked up later in the tournament,” he added.
Pakistan, with 11 points, finished fifth in the 10-team tournament but was pipped out of the semifinals by the Kiwis, who finished with the same number of points but had a better run rate than Sarfaraz’s team.
The 1992 champions had just three points after five matches after losing to Australia and arch rival India but managed to win against England and got a point from its washout game against Sri Lanka.
However, the return of fast bowler Shaheen Afridi and Haris Sohail in the middle order saw Pakistan win its last four games against South Africa, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Eventually, its heavy defeat against West Indies in the first match cost Pakistan as it could not improve its net run rate enough to finish ahead of New Zealand.
“It was in our minds that we have to make the most of an opportunity that comes to us to improve the run rate,” Sarfaraz said.
“But the pitches weren’t supporting as they had gotten slow because of which some of our matches went into the last over.”
Sarfaraz said the team was “mentally hurt” after it lost the match against India and came under severe criticism from both fans and former test cricketers on social media for seven days.
“It was really difficult for us to cope with the things that happened,” Sarfaraz said. “A lot of things happened after the India game which was mentally hurtful to the players. We were also distressed by that defeat like every fan.
“It wasn’t only me who was subjected to slurring, but many other players were also targeted in the shopping malls. Some things that happened did not come to the fore and we have reported them to the team management.”
Sarfaraz said there was turnaround in the performance of the team after the defeat against India when he called a players’ meeting.
“The team responded really well and everyone gave their opinion and it reflected from our four straight wins from there on,” he said.
Sarfaraz also defended his decision not to leave out Shoaib Malik in the last match against Bangladesh as the allrounder announced his retirement from ODIs after the match.
“We wanted to give a good send off to him, but we wanted to keep the winning combination because of which he couldn’t play the last match,” he said. “He (Malik) has made a lot of contributions for Pakistan cricket and we did what we could in the dressing room and gave him a farewell.”
Sarfaraz has captained Pakistan in all three formats of the game but said it was up to the Pakistan Cricket Board to decide his future.
“The decision has to be taken by the cricket board, they know who’s better for the role,” he said. “I am at a stage that now I know these players really well. All of these guys, except (Mohammad) Hafeez and Malik, are junior. Our T20 team is in good shape. We will look to induct players who can bring more quality to the side. Now, we will work to put up a better show in the next assignment.”
No need to be sorry for World Cup exit, says Sarfaraz
No need to be sorry for World Cup exit, says Sarfaraz
- The team was “mentally hurt” after it lost the match against India
- Sarfaraz has captained Pakistan in all three formats of the game but says it is up to the Pakistan Cricket Board to decide his future
Pakistani on trial in US says Trump, Biden were possible targets in Iran-linked assassination plot
- Asif Merchant, who paid money to hitmen, tells court Iranian contact named three potential targets
- The Pakistani national says he anticipated getting arrested, acted out of fear for his relatives in Iran
NEW YORK: The allegation sounded like the stuff of spy movies: A Pakistani businessman trying to hire hit men, even handing them $5,000 in cash, to kill a US politician on behalf of Iran ‘s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
It was true, and potential targets of the 2024 scheme included now-President Donald Trump, then-President Joe Biden and former presidential candidate and ex-UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, the man told jurors at his attempted terrorism trial in New York on Wednesday. But he insisted his actions were driven by fear for loved ones in Iran, and he figured he’d be apprehended before anything came of the scheme.
“My family was under threat, and I had to do this,” the defendant, Asif Merchant, testified through an Urdu interpreter. “I was not wanting to do this so willingly.”
Merchant said he had anticipated getting arrested before anyone was killed, intended to cooperate with the US government and had hoped that would help him get a green card.
US authorities were, indeed, on to him — the supposed hit men he paid were actually undercover FBI agents — and he was arrested on July 12, 2024, a day before an unrelated attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania. Merchant did sit for voluntary FBI interviews, but he ultimately ended up with a trial, not a cooperation deal.
“You traveled to the United States for the purpose of hiring Mafia members to kill a politician, correct?” Assistant US Attorney Nina Gupta asked during her turn questioning Merchant Wednesday in a Brooklyn federal court.
“That’s right,” Merchant replied, his demeanor as matter-of-fact as his testimony was unusual.
The trial is unfolding amid the less than week-old Iran war, which killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a strike that Trump summed up as “I got him before he got me.” Jurors are instructed to ignore news pertaining to the case.
The Iranian government has denied plotting to kill Trump or other US officials.
Merchant, 47, had a roughly 20-year banking career in Pakistan before getting involved in an array of businesses: clothing, car sales, banana exports, insulation imports. He openly has two families, one in Pakistan and the other in Iran — where, he said, he was introduced around the end of 2022 to a Revolutionary Guard intelligence operative. They initially spoke about getting involved in a hawala, an informal money transfer system, Merchant said.
Merchant testified that his periodic visits to the US for his garment business piqued the interest of his Revolutionary Guard contact, who trained him on countersurveillance techniques.
The US deems the Revolutionary Guard a “foreign terrorist organization.” Formally called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the force has been prominent in Iran under Khamenei.
Merchant said the handler told him to seek US residents interested in working for Iran. Then came another assignment: Look for a criminal to arrange protests, steal things, do some money laundering, “and maybe have somebody murdered,” Merchant recalled.
“He did not tell me exactly who it is, but he told me — he named three people: Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Nikki Haley,” he added.
After US immigration agents pulled Merchant aside at the Houston airport in April 2024, searched his possessions and asked about his travels to Iran, he concluded that he was under surveillance. But still he researched Trump rally locations, sketched out a plot for a shooting at a political rally, lined up the supposed hit men and scrambled together $5,000 from a cousin to pay them a “token of appreciation.”
He even reported back to his Revolutionary Guard contact, sending observations — fake, Merchant said — tucked into a book that he shipped to Iran through a series of intermediaries.
Merchant said he “had no other option” than to play along because the handler had indicated that he knew who Merchant’s Iranian relatives were and where they lived.
In a court filing this week, prosecutors noted that Merchant didn’t seek out law enforcement to help with his purported predicament before he was arrested. He testified that he couldn’t turn to authorities because his handler had people watching him.
Prosecutors also said that in his FBI interviews, Merchant “neglected to mention any facts that could have supported” an argument that he acted under duress.
Merchant told jurors Wednesday that he didn’t think agents would believe his story, because their questions suggested “they think that I’m some type of super-spy.”
“And are you a super-spy?” defense lawyer Avraham Moskowitz asked.
“No,” Merchant said. “Absolutely not.”
