Misbah rues three-wicket blitz during chase

Tuesday, 17 February 2015 00:45 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: The Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq was just starting to feel confident about his team’s chances of beating India at the World Cup on Sunday when everything fell apart in just nine balls. Misbah had been scoring almost effortlessly but was left to rue what might have been after the mid-innings collapse ended Pakistan’s momentum and resulted in 76-run drubbing at the Adelaide Oval. “Our batsmen really could not convert the starts and some of them really got out early,” Misbah told reporters. “We need to learn. Like good players we need to just carry on. We lost three quick wickets in the middle and that’s from where we just lost the way.”

Chasing 301 for victory, Pakistan overcame a sedate start to reach 102-2 in the 24th over with opener Ahmed Shehzad just starting to take the attack to the Indian bowlers. But what followed proved disastrous for Pakistan as they lost 3-1 in nine deliveries to slump to 103-5 at the end of the 25th over. Shehzad (47) fell first to UmeshYadav, hitting a powerful cut shot straight to RavindraJadeja at point and was followed by SohaibMaqsood for a duck in the same over. Umar Akmal, known for his aggressive batting, joined them in the dressing room soon after being given out without scoring by the third umpire on a review asked by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Misbah and ShahidAfridi (22) set about rebuilding the innings with a 46 run partnership before Afridi and WahabRiaz departed in the same over. Running out of partners, Misbah was left to stage a lone battle and finished with 76 from 84 balls, hitting nine boundaries and a six. “It was all about going there and making partnerships. But we lost wickets on regular basis and...that really hurt us,” Misbah said. “They were bowling well but still I think we could have just survived those balls. You could say it was a little bit of pressure. We should have not lost those wickets.” Misbah said changes were likely to come in the Pakistan team in future matches after the defeat, their sixth in as many World Cup matches against neighbours India. Pakistan moved Younus Khan from sixth in the batting order to open, and dropped regular wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed for Akmal but neither change worked. “Actually with these restrictions in the field, we are not getting the balance right,” Misbah added. “We needed a fifth bowler. Sometimes you have to just sacrifice another batsman.”