TORONTO: Captain Paksitan cricket team Shoaib Malik blamed the over all low total for his team’s failure against Sri Lanka in the final of the Toronto Twnety-20 tournament.
“Chasing nearly 130 to 140 runs in twenty-20 cricket is not that difficult, and had we scored another 20 runs it could have been difficult for the Lankan team to achieve the target,” he told media here on Tuesday.
He said Pakistan did manage to get a breakthrough after Lankans were off to a solid stand but it proved late as they knocked off a low total.
“Twenty20 cricket is always thrilling and minor mistakes on the part any team can benefit the other side, and this is what happened when we did not post a good total,” he said.
Malik said he was disappointed to lose the final as he was anticipating victory after his team’s earlier success in the league match.
“However things turned from bad to worse for us on a pitch on which scoring runs is always difficult,” he added.
He said the Lankan team took a solid start and Pakistan got into trouble mainly as they scored 60 runs in the first ten overs.
“I expected that we will be able to get two or three early wickets, which did not happen, while our bowlers too did not bowl with good line or length,” he said.
The captain refused to pinpoint any bowler for a poor show, but Shoaib Akhtar, once known as the world’s most fearsome pace bowler and now a pale shadow of his glittering past, was mainly responsible for the defeat by conceding 40 runs in just 3 overs.
“I did not want to blame anyone, I did my best to inspire the team and at one stage we broke through the Lankans defence but could not maintain an upper hand as the bowling was not accurate in the final session,” he asserted.
Responding to a query, he said he always endeavoured to be a role model for the team through his all round performance as it was sad to lose in that manner.
“We won three back to back matches and we set a flow of victories through collective efforts but we could not sustain the pressure in the final because our batting and bowling was not of high quality,” he said.
“Twenty20 cricket is unpredictable, a team keeps on posting victories and then at a stage it may suddenly fall because this shortest version of the game gives little chance to achieve the desired result after committing mistakes,” he said.
“Defeat does not mean the end of cricket, there is always room to improve and there is dire need to put in resolute efforts and hard work to boost our performance,” he observed.
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