I was scared watching myself on TV: Sarfraz

Friday, 27 October 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ESPNcricinfo: Sarfraz Ahmed was relieved and scared in the aftermath of being the target of an allegedly corrupt approach.

The Pakistan Captain reported the approach last week and though the PCB did confirm a player was approached with a fixing offer, it refrained officially from revealing the identity of the player at the time. It had passed on the information to ICC, internally allowing the global body to take over the matter.

Speaking about the approach for the first time on Wednesday, ahead of Pakistan’s first T20I against Sri Lanka, Sarfraz said though he found himself relieved after reporting the incident, he was also “scared” watching himself excessively discussed on television.

When the news first broke last Saturday, as expected, it was widely covered by the Pakistan media. Sarfraz was lauded for his swift response, but, given Pakistan’s history with fixing incidents, it understandably jangled some nerves.

“Whatever happened, it is done and I did what I was supposed to do,” Sarfraz said in Abu Dhabi. “But I wasn’t frightened after informing; in fact, I was more scared watching myself on TV. I was discussed on TV so much that at some stage I started to feel fear. But by the grace of Allah, everything is getting normal. When you are going into a series you need to be normal and everything is going good so far.”

Earlier this year, the second edition of the PSL, in the UAE, was disrupted by a spot-fixing scandal. A number of Pakistan players were the target of corrupt approaches there and have since been punished by the PCB – a few for failing to report approaches and two players – Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif – for more serious breaches of the PCB’s anti-corruption code.

“To be honest the player reacted unbelievably well, he did everything required of him and we had a chat straight afterwards,” Coach Mickey Arthur said on Monday after the incident.

“It was handled brilliantly and I think that is a real example to our team and to the cricket world that a really important player was approached and acted to the letter of the law and did exceptionally well as a true ambassador of the game. I am very comfortable with our players they are outstanding and I have no doubt that if anyone is approached they will do the same way as the individual did.” Pakistan’s tour of the UAE has come down to the final leg, with the first match of the three T20Is against Sri Lanka on Thursday at the Sheikh Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi. A new-look Sri Lanka T20 squad was announced after several players, including regular limited-overs captain Upul Tharanga, had refused to travel to Pakistan to play the last match at the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore. Despite clean sweeping the opponents in the ODI series, Sarfraz did not wish to take the young Sri Lankan side for granted.

“They have a new team but I know them as I have played against them when they were with A team,” Sarfraz said. “I know Mahela Udawatte, [Danushka] Gunathilaka, [Isuru] Udana and T20 is a different form of the game and whoever plays better on the day will win. It will be an interesting series and fans will be able to see good cricket.

“We naturally are very happy because we will be playing at home and if we can go on to lift the trophy in front of home fans, then nothing like it.”