Reaching the semi-final was an achievement by Pakistan, says Zaka Ashraf

Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Zaka Ashraf, is disappointed that the Green Shirts could not qualify for the final of the recently-concluded ICC World T20 2012 in Sri Lanka but he is satisfied that his team made it to the last four of the event.

Pakistan entered the illustrious tournament as one of the favourites because of their past-record in World T20s, being the only team to have qualified for the semi-final stage of all the editions played so far.

On top of that, the Green Shirts had the services of a number of players, who can take the game away from any opposition on any given day. Having beaten New Zealand and Bangladesh without much of a fuss in the group matches, Mohammad Hafeez and company thrashed South Africa and Australia in the Super 8 stage to qualify for the semi-finals yet again.

However, Pakistan’s batsman crumbled under pressure in the semi-final against the hosts, failing to chase down 139 runs on a double-paced pitch, which was surely not of international standard.

Ashraf is happy with the team’s overall performance and believes that qualifying for the semi-final in itself is no mean achievement. Some of the world’s major cricketing nations like India, South Africa and England were ousted before the semi-finals.

“Reaching semi-final was an achievement on part of our team which gave good performance in the mega event but sadly it could not reach the final,” said the Chairman PCB. “Victory and defeat go hand in hand but one thing is very clear that our team played better than many teams as we were above than the teams like England and South Africa in the mega event.”

Some of the former cricketers and media has criticized Pakistan’s performance but the Chairman PCB understands that making it to the last four in a 12-team competition is a satisfactory performance, which must be admired by one and all.

“It was not only Pakistan team which lost in the World T20, there were other teams as well which lost in the event but our overall performance was up to the mark,” he added.