Adelaide:
Disappointed Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq blamed batting failure for his team’s ouster from the World Cup following a six-wicket defeat against Australia in the quarter-final in Adelaide on Friday.
Pakistan were bowled out for a below-par 213 in the final over after being well set at 97-2 -- a trend Misbah said had prevailed throughout the World Cup.
“I think we failed as a batting unit in the whole tournament,” said Misbah, whose dismissal after scoring 34 derailed Pakistan’s innings.
Josh Hazlewood took 4-35 while Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell took two wickets apiece as Pakistan never recovered on a batting-friendly Adelaide Oval pitch.
“We just lost the way in the middle overs, we were going well at one stage but after 22-23 overs we kept losing wickets and that was the trend throughout the World Cup,” said the skipper.
Australia overcame early jitters to overhaul the target for the loss of four wickets in the 34th over to earn a place in Thursday’s semi-final against defending champions India at Sydney.
Australia had a lucky escape when Rahat Ali dropped a sitter from Shane Watson—on just four at the time—off a fiery Wahab Riaz with the score at 84-3.
“Wahab really bowled well throughout the World Cup and he was a different bowler. He showed his class again and at one stage we were pretty much in the game and the way he was bowling that catch could have made the difference.
“But that is how cricket is.”
Misbah said it was tough on the bowlers to defend low totals.
“If you keep on scoring low totals then it’s difficult for the bowlers to defend every day, especially on batting pitches like we were playing today.”
