Following his team’s 10-run defeat against India in the third and final ODI of the series against India, Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq admitted India’s brilliant fielding made the paltry 168-run target look formidable.
“We had a great chance, especially after restricting them to 167. But India were outstanding with their bowling, fielding and in exploiting the conditions,” MIsbah said. “Their pacers and spinners did equally well. The best part of their performance was their fielding. It was phenomenal and they must have saved at least 30-35 runs in the field.”
What made matters worse for Pakistan, batting second, was the moisture in the wicket that came with the fog. Misbah, who top-scored for his team with 39 runs, said the conditions were extremely difficult for the batsmen.
“When our innings started, we realised it wasn’t easy to bat on that track. The singles were not easily available, the spinners were getting the ball to turn and bounce, and pacers were seaming it. Forget scoring runs, it was difficult to even survive on this wicket,” he said.
According to Pakistan skipper, his and the in-form opener Nasir Jamshed’s wickets were the two moments that cost Pakistan the game.
“I think Nasir’s and my wickets were the turning points. If we hadn’t lost one of those wickets and stayed on for a bit longer, it could have been an easy match for us.”
However, when asked about his strike-rate of 47.56, Misbah said, the wicket, conditions and the potency of India’s bowling didn’t call for being flashy.
“When I got out, we needed three an over. All you needed to do was to bat out the overs, and we would have won the match. It was not like we were chasing seven an over here. You would have realised later on why I batted slow,” he said.
Having won the series 2-1, the Pakistan captain was pleased with his team’s overall performance. He also defended his underperforming middle-order batsmen by saying that it wouldn’t be fair to judge them on the basis of this series where the conditions favoured bowlers.
“This was a very good series for us and we draw a lot of confidence from this performance,” he said. “One can also be deceived by our performance here because all the wickets we played on here were bowling tracks.
“With the damp weather, dew and cold, none of the batsmen barring Nasir Jamshed and MS Dhoni could score many runs. So, it won’t be fair to judge the batsmen’s performance from this series,” Misbah said.
