ADELAIDE, Australia — Captain Misbah-ul Haq rued the failure of Pakistani batting, not only just in the quarter-final against Australia but throughout the duration of the tournament, as the biggest disappointment in the 2015 World Cup.
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At Adelaide Oval, on a good batting pitch and after winning the toss and making first use of it, Pakistan were skittled out for 213 despite several of their batsmen getting their eyes in and spending significant time on the crease.
And the man who brought down the curtain on his international ODI career, said: “Actually, we just lost the way in the middle overs. I mean, we were really going well at one stage, but after 20, 23 overs, we suddenly just kept losing wickets, and that’s been the trend throughout the tournament.
“We were getting starts but we were not converting that into bigger scores, and when six batsmen do that, it’s really difficult for your bowling lineup to defend totals like that every day, especially on batting pitches like we were playing today. We need to really learn about this.
“We have got only one hundred throughout the tournament, and this is not how you win tournaments like World Cup. You need batsmen who will score hundreds, and I think as a batting unit, we failed to do that.”
Misbah said the dropped catch of Shane Watson by Rahat Ali was the turning point of the match and was full of praise for the effort of pace bowler Wahab Riaz, whose ferocious pace and first spell of six overs had the Australian batsmen ducking for cover.
“He bowled his heart out and was a different kind of bowler throughout this tournament,” said Misbah. “I have never seen a bowler bowling like that and if that catch had been taken, who knows what could have happened?
Thank you for the ODI memories Misbah! #ThankYouMisbah pic.twitter.com/isHkk26flQ
— ICC (@ICC) March 20, 2015
“Nobody in this world is very good against a bowler who is bowling at 150kmph and with this sort of deceptive pace and bounce. Today he’s shown his class again. At one stage we were pretty much in the game, and the way he was bowling, that catch could have made a big difference.”
Misbah said Pakistan need to improve on their bowling and fielding if they are to contend for titles in the future.
“We need to improve our batting. This has now been a problem for almost three, four years. We are not up to the mark, up to the international standards. We need to really improve that,” added the 40-year-old Misbah.
“And also, fielding is another aspect where all the other international teams are really going up to a higher level, and need to improve that, and that obviously that comes with the fitness. A lot of steps have been taken by the cricket board but they have to develop that fitness culture in Pakistani domestic cricket.”
Misbah ul Haq, addressing last press conference as Pakistan’s OD captain, with teary eyes. This man deserved better. pic.twitter.com/l0DTC2na5b
— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) March 20, 2015
On his own career, Misbah said: “It was really an honour for me to represent my country, and I really enjoyed my cricket. I’ve always given everything I had and Afridi, also.
“We really enjoyed that and we will always remember that. Our message for the youngster is that if you really want to be there, you have to really work hard. That’s what our seniors did. That’s what we learned from all our greats.”
