"That's why we are getting slow" - Shadab Khan reveals the reason why Pakistan players are lacking

Pakistan vice-captain Shadab Khan recently opened up on their performances ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. He shared a fun response when he was asked about whether Pakistani cricketers are having Hyderabadi biriyani. Shadab, who was the stand-in captain in the warm-up match against Australia in World Cup 2023, cheekily said that the Pakistani players have been slow because of consuming the popular Indian food item on a ‘daily’ basis as well.

“We are eating it daily, and perhaps that is why we are getting a bit slow (laughs),” Shadab was quoted as saying.

However, Pakistan will go into the World Cup after losing both their warm-up matches against New Zealand and the Australia as well. In both games, Pakistan managed to score more than 300 runs but failed to secure victory. Against the Aussies, they were bowled out for 337 in 47.4 overs while chasing a target of 352.

Babar Azam, Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz scored 90, 83 and 50 respectively, but their efforts went in vain as others failed to contribute. Hasan Ali and Usama Mir tried their best before Marnus Labuschagne removed the former to seal the deal as well.

“Our attitude was good, result not in our hands” – Shadab Khan

However, Shadab wasn’t worried after they ended up on the losing side. He was happy with the ‘attitude’ of the players in the games as well.

“Result is not important. We took a lot of positives. Our attitude was good, result not in our hands. I think our 11 is sorted, we just wanted to give time to the bench to show their skills. When you play against Australia and New Zealand, you get confidence. We got a little bit experience of conditions [in Hyderabad],” he further added.

Pakistan will play their opening match against Scott Edwards’ Netherlands on Friday, October 6 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.