“It was tough, we should have got 300,” Misbah observed. “Again, we just messed it up. The guys are not learning from their mistakes and we need to rectify these mistakes and lift our performance or else we will struggle against India and Sri Lanka.”
The Men In Green took on the hosts on March 11, 2012, at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. The visitors’ innings got off to a flying start, with openers Mohammad Hafeez (89) and Nasir Jamshed (54) joining forces for a 135-run opening stand.
However, the remaining batsmen failed to contribute anything solid to the total. Younis Khan (12) and Umar Akmal (21) were mediocre, while Asad Shafiq (4) and the hard-hitting Shahid Afridi (0) were downright disappointing.
The lower order attempted to put up a fight in the death overs, with pacer Umar Gul managing a 39, as the tourists were finally able to post a total of 262 for 8 on the board.
“The pitch was absolutely perfect for batting, no spin, nothing for the fast bowlers but again the bowlers did good for us. The bowlers are winning games for us for the last year and a half, but we need to support them,” Misbah said.
In comparison to the batsmen, the Pakistani bowlers were far more impressive. Umar Gul claimed 3 for 58, and Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, and Shahid Afridi took 2 wickets each. However, the Tigers were hard to contain, and the visitors narrowly managed to cut them off at 241 in the 49th over.
The only stand out performance from the Pakistani camp was all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who remained the top scorer for his side, with 89 runs, and claimed two wickets to boot, earning the Player of the Match award. The 31-year-old claimed that he had been working hard on his batting, and was pleased to see the results.
He also praised opener Nasir Jamshed, and said that while the innings had started off well, the team had been unable to finish satisfactorily, which is an area they need to work on.
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