Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan finished third in the 10th edition of the Asia Cup and captain Muhammad Irfan believes the team performed well but could have done even better had they gotten into their rhythm early on. The Greenshirts beat South Korea 6-3 in the third place match to match their 2013 finish, while they finished second in 2009. “Our team had a number of new players so we performed better than expected,” said Irfan. “We weren’t really favourites to beat South Korea considering our stuttering form but we came through. Had we had more international experience under our belt then we could have finished in the top two.”

Irfan further bemoaned the lack of international matches. “We only did training camps during the last six months which are not enough,” he said. “You learn techniques and strategy in camps but you can’t understand how to implement them if you don’t play against strong international teams. I am sure we can beat India if we play more matches.” Pakistan Hockey Federation’s (PHF) chief selector Hassan Sardar was not as generous with his review and felt the players missed way too many chances. “They missed chances in every match; had they converted those, then Pakistan could have won a lot more,” he bemoaned.

Published in Daily Times, October 25^th 2017.