Salman Ali Agha, the captain of Pakistan, said that his team struggled in every area of the Asia Cup Super 4 match against India, with batting proving especially challenging after the first ten overs.
Shivam Dube produced a brilliant three-over spell in which he claimed two wickets and conceded just 16 runs, allowing Pakistan to only achieve 80 runs in the following ten overs after reaching 91 in the first ten.
“The batting was a lot better today, and that’s a positive. The way our start was, we could have scored 15 more (overall). But when the ball goes soft after 10 overs, it’s not as easy to bat,” Salman said after the six-wicket loss in Dubai on Sunday night.
“…we didn’t bowl as well in the powerplay and got punished. But our start should have ensured that we scored 180,” he added.
Salman also acknowledged that his bowlers were unable to cope with the Indians’ fast start in a challenging chase of 172. To give India the ideal start, openers Abhishek Sharma (74) and Shubman Gill (47) thrashed the opposition attack.
“Bowling or batting, we look to play the perfect game. To win, you have to excel in all three facets of the game. We didn’t field well or start well with the ball,” he said.
The captain, nevertheless, asked his team to put the India match behind them and focus on Tuesday’s match against Sri Lanka.
“We have to forget this game because we have one the day after tomorrow. We’re looking forward to delivering a better performance there.”
Between overs 10 and 17, Pakistan struggled to find the boundary, managing just 38 runs. It was only thanks to Faheem Ashraf (20) and Mohammed Nawaz (21) that the total went past 170.
“On these wickets, it is difficult for a new batter to score runs straightaway. The set batter needs to stay till the end,” Salman said.
Hussain Talat replaced Hasan Nawaz but fell attempting to play wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav off the pitch. When asked if Mohammad Haris might have been a better choice, Salman chose to disagree.
“Hussain Talat is very good against the spinners. At that point, we tried to maintain the right-left combination to make it difficult for their bowlers,” he said.
On Fakhar Zaman’s caught-behind dismissal, the skipper suggested the on-field umpire might have erred, though he admitted he could be mistaken about whether the catch carried.
“Umpires can make mistakes. But it did look like it bounced ahead of the keeper to me. I might be wrong. The way (Fakhar) was batting, if he had batted through the powerplay, we would probably have scored 190.
“But those are calls for umpires to make. To me, it looked like it bounced before the keeper. I might be mistaken, but so might be the umpire.”
