It was the accountability of the highest order to take our innings deep, which we did,” he said. “Throughout the match, our batsmen did effectively, particularly Fakhar [Zaman] and Imam[-ul Haq], and we needed to proceed our momentum. We needed to complete the innings off and I used to be completely happy to be there until the top.
“I’m very confident with the side. I’m very happy with the top order performing in a difficult place like South Africa. It gives us a lot of confidence, and we want to keep this momentum going.”
While it is perhaps churlish to minimize the ODI success, Pakistan will acknowledge South Africa had been severely hampered by the absence of gamers who’ve flown off to the IPL, in addition to the late harm to Rassie van der Dussen which meant the hosts had been compelled to make seven adjustments to their beginning XI. Pakistan, in the meantime, have issues of their very own within the center order, which Azam brazenly acknowledged, revealing the shock inclusion of Sarfaraz Ahmed for the primary time in 15 months was an try and mitigate that.
“I accept our middle order struggled, but I don’t think it was as bad as people made out. There’s a gap in our middle order where we are missing a particular kind of player we are trying to fill, which is why we brought Sarfaraz in to try and plug that weakness. We wanted to utilise the experience that was on the bench, so that’s why we brought Sarfaraz in.”
Babar went on to provide Sarfaraz an entire vote of confidence, and instructed he could possibly be concerned extra recurrently in future. “Sarfaraz is with us because we trust him,” he mentioned. “In ODI cricket, we’ll try and utilise him as much as we can as wicketkeeper and batsman, because at No. 5, you need to move the game along, which we believe he can do. The middle order was struggling, and while it didn’t come off for Sarfaraz today, everyone played a part in a very good series deciding win.”
It was a day of non-public achievement for Azam, too, whose innings of 94 ensured he pipped Indian batsman Virat Kohli to prime spot within the ICC ODI rankings. Azam has loved a fruitful collection, ending because the second-highest run-getter over the three ODIs, behind solely Zaman. He insisted, nonetheless, that his focus remained squarely on the facet, and the four-match T20I collection that follows.