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ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY

May 26, 2017

Sarfraz Ahmad

Edgbaston, Birmingham

Approved by Tim

Q. How do you see Bangladesh as an opponent being the No. 6 ranked side now?
SARFRAZ AHMED: I think the last one and a half years Bangladesh was performing well in the ODI series. I think it's a good opportunity for both teams for the Champions Trophy.

We had a good practice match. So definitely tomorrow both teams want to win. So I think it's a good practice match tomorrow for both teams.

Q. How do you see -- as you guys won't be in the same group, but you might face each other if you guys qualify for the Super 8 or the quarter/semi finals, how do you see, as an opponent, specifically in the bowling department, or the bowling/batting department?
SARFRAZ AHMED: I think, as I told you, Bangladesh team has been performing well. I think it's a good opponent. Right now (indiscernible) Bangladesh batting is performing well. I think if we're playing the semi finals, so definitely we will see batting opponent, definitely Tamim is playing really well now. There's Tamim, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib, Mahmudullah. So definitely we will work it out, and we will work it out if we play in the semi finals.

Q. This is your first major tournament in charge of the side. What do you bring as captain? Is it going to be a slightly different Pakistan one-day side to what we've seen, or are you trying to put your own stamp, make your mark on the side?
SARFRAZ AHMED: Yeah, it is my first major tournament to captain. And definitely we are very hopeful and really excited about this tournament. We are No. 8. So we have nothing to lose. So that's why I told the players just play your natural game.

Initially we played a good series in West Indies. It was a very tough city for us. But a lot of our players performed really well in all forms, all departments, batting or bowling. So we're really hopeful to perform this tournament and we'll try to win this trophy as well.

Q. And on the team, what is it that you would like to see your side be noticed for?
SARFRAZ AHMED: I think my aim is to play -- just play their own game, natural game, just play freely. Don't think too many percentages, just play as you play domestically.

Q. This is a tournament you've previously not won. So is that something that bothers you coming into it this time, or is that sort of exciting as a challenge that you could be the first, this could be the first time you win it?
SARFRAZ AHMED: Yeah, I think this is very exciting for me and my team as well, I think to win the Champions Trophy first time. We'll definitely try to win the Champions Trophy. And guys are really hopeful because we had a lot of practice session camp here. We're hopeful and ready to play Champions Trophy.

Q. I think in a recent series against New Zealand there were a few dropped catches. Is fielding -- is this warm-up game a chance for you to make sure that the fielding isn't something that lets you down in the tournament?
SARFRAZ AHMED: I think the last visit, our fielding department was really good, we fielded really well. I think we hardly missed one or two catches, but our fielding has improved. Fielding coach worked really hard for our fielders. So Inshallah, our fielding really improved this Champions Trophy.

Q. As you said before, you come here as sort of a bit unknown quantity, said you want to go play with a bit of freedom, is that something, that unknown quantity for other teams, something that you think can work in your favour, that sort of surprise element that you've got?
SARFRAZ AHMED: I think that there is no surprise element. And just we are here to play a positive cricket and just free cricket.

We played against India. We played against South Africa and Sri Lanka. We are focused on one-by-one match tomorrow. We are playing against Bangladesh. So we are hopeful we win this tournament. So definitely we will have good confidence in Champions Trophy starting matches.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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