‘If they’re a chef short, I’ll fill that role’: Safyaan Sharif ready to cook up T20 World Cup shock

It is fair to say that England’s first two games at the T20 World Cup have not inspired much confidence – unless you’re one of their future opponents. For Scotland, last-minute call-ups after the decision to banish Bangladesh from the tournament last month, English travails have put some extra pep in their step ahead of the now-crucial Group C clash in Kolkata on Saturday.

“Definitely,” says the seamer Safyaan Sharif. “They’ll be feeling pressure because they know they have to win if they want to qualify. Obviously that’s the same with us, but I don’t think we have too much to lose. I think they have more to lose than us. Nepal gave them a good run and they were stressed in that game. They were panicking a lot – you could tell, the way they were playing in the final few overs. So it’s how they handle the pressure.

“I know they’ve been playing good cricket, but then Nepal almost beat them, and the West Indies overpowered them towards the back end. Any team is dangerous in the T20 format, and we’re also playing good cricket at the moment. In T20 anyone can beat anyone, and anything can change within one over, or one ball.”

The Scots know more than most teams here how quickly things can change in sport. Just a few weeks ago Sharif was expecting to spend his February doing indoor training and helping out at his father’s restaurant in Kirkcaldy. Then the phone rang.

“I was just at home, getting some family time, doing some training, and I help my dad out during the winter or when I’m off from cricket – I’m kind of a supervisor, making sure everything is going well, and if they’re a chef short I’ll fill in that role,” Sharif says.

“We’d read so much stuff in the media saying Bangladesh might go, they might not go. I thought it was just noise. I was at home when I got the call saying that we’d been invited to India and I’d be going. I was a bit shocked because it was all a bit sudden, and I didn’t think that Bangladesh would pull out, I thought they would resolve something.”

Sharif’s Pakistani heritage made his visa application complicated, delaying his arrival in India. The speed of that turnaround means that though this is his sixth World Cup of various flavours, none has quite prepared him for this one. “I got here two days before our first warm-up game. It was a bit of a challenging process,” he adds.

“Other World Cups, you know you’re going so you have so much preparation, your mind is set and it does make a big difference, whereas when you just get a call and they say you’re going to the World Cup, it’s obviously exciting and I’m really happy to be selected, but you have to just accept the challenge you have ahead.”

Safyaan Sharif celebrates after sealing Scotland’s famous win over England in 2018. Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images/Reuters

The 34-year-old struggled in Scotland’s opening fixture, a 35-run defeat to West Indies, and was left out of their second, an emphatic victory over Italy. “I just couldn’t execute the way I wanted to,” he says of the West Indies game. “Obviously that just comes down to being a little bit unprepared. But we’re here to play, we can’t use that as an excuse. Now we’ve been here for a bit of time, we’ve had a few extra sessions, which is what I needed, and I’m looking forward to the big day.”

Sharif is Scotland’s fifth most-capped player in Twenty20 internationals, and all of the top six are in a squad that blends youth and experience. All six of those senior players also appeared in perhaps Scotland’s greatest international fixture, the one-day international victory over England in 2018 (only Adil Rashid remains for the English). Sharif took one wicket, trapping Mark Wood lbw to win the game.

“I have no words. It was a fantastic feeling,” he remembers. “In my head I was like, I just need to bowl my best ball, which is the yorker, which I’ve been nailing for so many years. But the previous over I’d been trying to nail that ball and I wasn’t quite executing it. When it came to the big moment I approached the crease, I jumped and I released the ball, and it just felt really good when it came out of my hand. I was like, ‘Yeah, this is the ball.’”

It is the only time he has faced England. He has played 76 T20s against 24 opponents, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, but Saturday brings the chance to add one more name to that list. “It’s always good to play against England, because you’re playing against some of the top players in the world,” he says. “Whether it’s bowling, batting, all-rounders, they have it all. So it’s a good exciting challenge.

“But the guys are on form, the batting group is doing really well. This is why you want to be here, to put in performances and showcase your talent. And we’re going to keep doing that and hopefully, when it comes to England, we do the exact same thing: play to our strengths, play our best cricket, and hopefully we’re on the winning side.”