ABU DHABI:
Pakistan opener and all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez maintained that the team had the ability to bounce back and win the remaining One-Day Internationals (ODI) after England clinched the second match to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
Pakistan, bowled out for 130 in the first match to lose by 130 runs, put on an improved batting display but could not overhaul a challenging 250-run total, which was inspired by England captain Alastair Cook’s second consecutive century.
Misbahul Haq failed to match his counterpart’s efforts and was dismissed for a 59-ball 47 as Pakistan lost track after being well-set at 179 for four, needing another 72 in the last 11 overs.
Hafeez said batting under lights was difficult but admitted Pakistan could not carry on the winning momentum that saw them clinch the Test series 3-0 prior to the ODIs.
“The ball was seaming more and was spinning a bit more later,” said Hafeez. “England bowled really well. It became a bit difficult batting second. We were definitely thinking of coming harder in the ODIs as well. Credit goes to the England team. They really played good cricket. And Cook has played a solid knock in the last two ODIs.
“We can still come back hard because we believe in our team. We have a lot of match-winners in our side and anybody can come in and win the game for Pakistan,” said Hafeez who has scored five and 26 in the first two matches.
Asked why the captain and coach did not attend the press-conference, opener Mohammad Hafeez said, “When you do well and even when you don’t do well, you have to face the media. It is not that nobody wants to face the media.”
‘Fielding was the difference’
Misbah, who was left ruing the dismissal of Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi as both looked like steering the team past the finish-line with the captain, said fielding remained a concern.
Umar, wicket-keeping for the side instead of a specialist filling the role, let off Cook on 28 with the miss proving to be a costly one.
“The batsmen showed improvement,” said Misbah, who lost two successive ODIs for the first time since taking over as captain in October 2010. “But the fielding was the main difference. We also lost wickets in a cluster.”
Pakistan lost their last five wickets for 23 runs with the dismissal of Afridi exposing the tail. Abdul Rehman consumed 12 deliveries for a single, failing to get bat on ball, and as the run-rate soared, Misbah lost his wicket to an out-of-character shot.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2012.
COMMENTS (5)
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Bad Planning, Umer akmal should not be keeping wickets. We dont have a good keeper/Batsman , we should have developed one from the younger lot dont let any of the Akmals keep wickets in future but for present bring in Adnan, we needed an allrounder i.e seamer/batsman instead of Cheema, some one like Abdul Razak, he should habe been in the team rather than Malick. Briging in Azhar was a good move, yes we are a weak batting/fielding side but poor planing and team selection could have improved our perfomance.
Saquib, sorry to say that dont think like that they contracted to give up ODI to england, engliand have good cricket side, despite lost the test matches.. however, pakistan will win next two ODI inshallah... if pakistan lost y peoples thinks that they lost deleberetly neither consider the opponent performance nor appriciates pakistan fighting effort.. cricket by chance game if u would give chance to opponent so opponnet will surey advantaage of that chance or mistake.. so thinks positively and pray for pakistan cricketer they are champions we will win inshallah... for next ODI :-).
this is little bit concern that no one responsible person facing the media regarding the current performance, plz misbah come up and speak up.. we are not worry of your performance but ur silence killing us.s.. :P
Yar, i think they have an agreement with ECB to win test series by giving up one days.
we could have restricted England to a much lower score had we tightened our field and stopped the singles. Had we done this they would have been pressurized to go big, and would have taken risks to get their run rate ticking. This may easily have resulted in wickets for us, since we have spin bowlers who could have used doosras and spins to get them stumped as they tried to hit big.
one of the coach or captain shud have attended to the press...and fielding sucks!plain and simple,,unless we manage to equally stop the number of boundaries as the english athletes and until our tail is just as supportive as their lineup...we are going nowhere !