Tayyab Tahir on Champions Trophy, South Africa, and New Zealand

LAHORE: Reporters asked Tayyab Tahir a series of question on Tuesday at a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s clash with South Africa. Tahir discussed the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, the recent loss to New Zealand, and tomorrows tri-nation series match against South Africa.

The conference began with a reporter inquiring as to what a win against South Africa, and a possible win in the tri-nation series finals, would do for Pakistan’s confidence heading into the Champions Trophy. While Tahir stated that he and the team were currently focused on the task at hand, namely, beating South Africa, he also said that the answer to the question was fairly obvious.

“When you win against someone, you get confidence. And after that, when you get confidence, you perform well,” said Tahir.

Another reported asked about the pressure on Tahir specifically, in the event of the top order batters failing to perform, specifically citing Babar Azam. In response, Tahir pointed to the team nature of the game. He stated that “there’s pressure on everyone,” and that there are other players on the team apart from Babar, whose performances matter. Tahir explained that the team works together, rather than relying on any one player.

“If we’re playing, we will win together, and lose together.”

Also read: New Zealand beat South Africa, qualify for tri-nation finals

Tahir was then asked about his position in the batting line-up. In the match against New Zealand he came in at sixth, when he is used to coming in at four of five. However, Tahir said that professionals don’t consider the number they come in at.

“I know if I’m playing international cricket, then I don’t need to look at the number, whether its sixth, one down, two down. This is our profession, so we need to try and perform whenever we get a chance.”

Questions regarding the loss to New Zealand, and poor performances from the bowlers were also asked, as reporters wondered what went wrong. Tahir explained that people are quick to look for faults in the team after a bad performance and assign blame, such as what fans are doing now with the bowlers. However, he said that that its not so simple, and there’s a bit of luck to the game.

Tahir stated that “sometimes you play and don’t get the performance you want, but people usually think that we’ve lost one game, so there was something lacking in the spinners or our main bowlers were beaten.”

“This is cricket, one team needs to win, one needs to lose. Whoever plays well on the day, will win.”  

Also read: Australia look to fine tune for Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka ODIs

Tahir was also asked about the teams morale following their defeat to New Zealand and how it would affect them moving forward. He said that the team’s isn’t so easily disheartened.

“The morale of the team is never down, because we need to play matches moving forward, and on the management’s side, they always give us confidence and say that its no problem, like we just consider it a bad day.”

He went on to say that when they play well, the team gets confidence and morale is high, but when they lose, they try not to dwell on it and look to the future.