Whatmore praises Pakistan’s Asia Cup performance – Cricket News Update
Newly-appointed http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Davenell-Frederick-Whatmore-c52571, claimed that Pakistan’s performance in the recently wrapped-up Asia Cup had been satisfactory, thought it would have been a perfect tournament for the Men in Green if they had managed to defeat arch-rivals
India.
“It would have been the icing on the cake to have beaten http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 and go on to win the cup,” Whatmore said to the AFP. “We made some mistakes but were in the game late in the second 50-over block. It was just one of those games that makes you analyse more.”
Pakistan dominated the top of the points table throughout the tournament (which was Whatmore's first assignment as coach), and were on a winning streak, defeating http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 by 21-runs in their first match, before going on to clinch a 6-wicket victory against
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in the 3rd match on March 15.
However, they crumbled during the high-pressure match against India on March 18 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur – the first clash between the two teams since their last meeting at Mohali for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Cup semi-final last year (which the
Men In Blue won).
India, aided by the hard-hitting http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Kohli-c2737 who scored 183 off 148 balls, went on to secure a 6-wicket win – a highly satisfying victory, regardless of the fact that they did not make it to the tournament finals. Pakistan, despite having set their opponents
a formidable 330 chase, were not able to contain the Indian batsmen, and the bowlers conceded precious runs, prominent among them http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wahab-Riaz-c95839, who gave away 50 in just 4 overs.
However, the Men in Green managed to claim the tournament title after securing a narrow 2-run victory against host team Bangladesh in the finals. The win marked a welcome return to form, after Pakistan suffered humiliating defeats in their last limited-overs
series against England, losing the ODIs 0-4 and the T20s 1-2.
The defeats against the Poms had raised doubts about the capabilities of captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972, who was slammed by experts and fans alike for having failed to inspire an aggressive, attacking stance in the team. However, Whatmore praised Misbah for guiding
the team to victory in the Asia Cup with a cool head.
“I wasn’t aware Misbah was under pressure prior to the Asia Cup. He has some wonderful qualities as a captain and contributed well to our overall performance,” Whatmore said.
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