We needed someone to bat through, says http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 – Cricket News Update
Misbah-ul-Haq, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 captain, is disappointed after losing the first One Day International (ODI of the five-match series at Bloemfontein and feels that someone had to bat through the innings if they had any chance of chasing
down a massive total of 315 runs.
Quite surprisingly, the visitors opted to bowl first on a flat track after winning the toss, although chasing has never been their strength. It did not turn out to be the right call as the Proteas looked comfortable throughout the innings
and posted a mammoth score on the board, thanks to a superb century by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Colin-Alexander-Ingram-c51381.
In reply, the Green Shirts failed to live up to their potential and the whole side was dismissed for merely 190 runs on the board in the 37th over of the innings, with not a single batsman able to score even a half-century.
While speaking to reporters after the match, the Pakistan captain admitted that the senior batsmen should have show more responsibility and they got out to some poor shots.
"We needed someone to bat through," Misbah said "It's difficult when you are losing wickets to chase a total like that. Wickets in hand is key. You want your main batsmen to go in and keep scoring."
The middle-order batsman is not too happy with the performance of his bowlers and fielders as well and admitted that they allowed the South African batsmen to run away with the show. Misbah understands that his team will have to raise
their game in all three departments of the game, if they have any chance of dismantling the opposition in the remaining four matches.
"We did not manage to take wickets, we could not manage to create pressure and the fielding was mediocre," he said. "Everybody knows what we did wrong. We need to improve the areas we are bowling, build more partnerships and every batsmen
who is set needs to carry on."
The second ODI of the series is going to be played at Centurion on Friday. Leading the series 1-0, the home team will be bolstered by the inclusion of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DW-Steyn-c1409, who turned out to be the difference between the two sides in the Test
matches.
Tags: