Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed had to face a lot of criticism after he was captured yawning at one stage during Pakistan’s clash with arch-rivals India on 16 June. The incident occurred during the Indian innings at Old Trafford in Manchester. Pakistan lost the match by 89 runs to India and the loss made matters worse as Sarfaraz was trolled heavily for yawning on the field and was also body shamed later at a mall.
It was after Pakistan’s convincing win over South Africa on Sunday that the Pakistan captain finally commented on the much-talked-about yawn. He said: “Yawning is a normal thing to do, I didn’t commit a sin. If people made money out of me yawning, that’s a good thing.”
In Sunday’s game against South Africa, Pakistan put up a much-improved show as they posted 308 for 7 in their 50 overs, courtesy a valiant knock of 89 off 59 balls from Haris Sohail — a replacement of Shoaib Malik. While defending the total, Pakistan were quite clinical in their bowling as they restricted South Africa to 259 for 9; a good 50 runs short of the target.
Sarfaraz was all praise for Man of the Match Haris Sohail whose 89-run knock featured nine boundaries and three sixes.
“Haris Sohail put in a great performance. We changed the combination in this game. Couple of games earlier, we went with other combination. That’s the only thing. Sometimes change is good for the team. Today the way Haris batted, he is hungry to play in the game. He’s the main factor, the turning point, the way he batted in the last 15 overs, it was like Jos Buttler,” Sarfaraz said at the post-match presentation ceremony.