Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq lamented irresponsible shots from his batsmen and poor running between the wickets as the main reason for their five-wickets loss in the second One-Day International.
The fate of the ODI series was also decided last night, with Australia going 2-0 up with just one match remaining to be played in Abu Dhabi tomorrow.
Misbah, who himself was the first of the three Pakistan players to be run out yesterday, said: “We were going according to our plans and then those run outs happened. I really don’t know what we were trying to do in the middle.
“We had looked at the pitch and we thought 250 would be a very good total. And that was very gettable for us. But in the powerplay and towards the end, we went for big shots and lost wickets regularly.
“Our batting is really letting us down. If we are playing against quality international sides like Australia, you’ve got to put up some good total on the board. Otherwise, you don’t have any chance.”
Misbah also felt the dropped catch of Glenn Maxwell when he was on two, was crucial.
“Obviously, when you score 215 and then let go Maxwell, who is such an important member of their batting line-up, it is going to be a key moment,” Misbah added. “He is such a dominant player and he is their best player against spin. As you could see, it really wasn’t easy out there for the other batsmen.”
With the series already lost, Misbah said the final one-dayer had not lost any importance for them.
“The series is already lost, but we do want to improve on our performance,” said the 40-year-old. “We would definitely like to win that match and go into the Test series with more confidence.
“At least this was a much improved performance as compared to our last match. We now need to learn from this and do better in Abu Dhabi.”
Misbah said it was just unfortunate that Pakistan were also facing so many injury issues, with Wahab Riaz joining the list yesterday when he limped out of the field after just 2.2 overs. Pakistan have already lost Mohammed Hafeez and Junaid Khan earlier in this series.
“It is difficult, but what can you do with injuries. It is difficult to keep building new combinations. But you have to accept that injuries are just a part and parcel of professional sport,” he added.
Maxwell, who was named Man of the Match, said he is sure someone else would have taken Australia to victory even if Umar Akmal had held on to his catch when on two.
“We had James (Faulkner) coming after me and he is playing very well. The confidence in the team is at such an amazing level right now. We have so much depth in our batting line-up,” said Maxwell, who made 76.
“Our bowlers did bowl extremely well today, but I don’t think we have won the series easily. Pakistan actually did very well to make 215 on that wicket, because we all thought it was a very difficult wicket.”