Good to be World Cup underdogs, says Pakistan captain Sarfraz

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed said on Monday that being underdogs in next month's World Cup eases the pressure on his young team, who leave for the tournament this week. Pakistan will play three warm-up matches before taking on joint-hosts England in a five-match one-day series and a Twenty20. The 1992 World Cup winners start their campaign against the West Indies in Nottingham on May 31.Sarfraz he would prefer his side to go into the tournament under the radar.

"Look, when we go as favourites, then it's a problem, but if we go as underdogs then other teams feel the danger, so I think being underdogs is good for us and eases the pressure," Sarfraz told a press conference in Lahore before they depart for England and Wales on Tuesday.

Sarfraz, 31, was among five key players rested for the whitewash ODI series defeat by Australia last month to freshen up the squad before the competition. He was handed a four-match suspension in January by the International Cricket Council after he made a racist comment about South Africa's Andile Phehlukwayo during an ODI.

All ten teams will play each other in the tournament starting on May 30 with England taking on South Africa in the opening fixture. The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals.The high-voltage clash between arch-rivals Pakistan and India scheduled for Manchester on June 16 promises to be one of the most tense of the tournament. Pakistan and India, who both possess nuclear weapons, came to the brink of all-out war recently after fresh sparring over the disputed region of Kashmir, adding to the intensity of the match.But Sarfraz played down the hype, saying all games are important.

"For us all nine matches are important so we will take every match as a match against India," he said of Pakistan's bitter rivals -- who have won all six of their previous World Cup clashes.But Pakistan took the Champions Trophy against India in 2017 with a stunning 180-run victory in the final. "We have beaten India in a bigger event recently so we will have that advantage," said Sarfraz.