It wasn’t easy to bat after first 10 overs: Pak skipper Salman reflects on what went wrong

Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha conceded that his side was found wanting in every aspect of the game in its Asia Cup Super 4 clash against India here with batting being particularly difficult after the first 10 overs.

Pakistan, after scoring 91 runs in the first 10 overs, could only manage 80 in the next 10 after Shivam Dube bowled a fantastic three-over spell in which he got two wickets and gave away only 16 runs.

“The batting was a lot better today, and that’s a positive. The way our start was, we could have scored 15 more (overall). But when the ball goes soft after 10 overs, it’s not as easy to bat,” Salman said after the six-wicket loss here on Sunday night.

“...we didn’t bowl as well in the powerplay and got punished. But our start should have ensured that we scored 180,” he added.

Salman also admitted that his bowlers could not handle the flying start that the Indians were off to in a tricky chase of 172. Openers Abhishek Sharma (74) and Shubman Gill (47) hammered the rival attack to give India the perfect start.

“Bowling or batting, we look to play the perfect game. To win, you have to excel in all three facets of the game. We didn’t field well or start well with the ball,” he said.

However, the skipper urged his team to forget the India game and look forward to the match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

“We have to forget this game because we have one the day after tomorrow. We’re looking forward to delivering a better performance there.”

Between overs 10 and 17, Pakistan managed only 38 runs as boundaries became hard to come by. It was only because of Faheem Ashraf (20 not out) and Mohammed Nawaz (21) that the team total could go past the 170-run mark.

“On these wickets, it is difficult for a new batter to score runs straightaway. The set batter needs to stay till the end,” Salman said.

Hussain Talat was brought in place of Hasan Nawaz but even he perished trying to play wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav off the surface. Asked if Mohammad Haris could have been a better bet, Salman agreed to disagree.

“Hussain Talat is very good against the spinners. At that point, we tried to maintain the right-left combination to make it difficult for their bowlers,” he said.

On the caught behind dismissal of Fakhar Zaman, the skipper felt that the on-field umpire could have made a “mistake” although even he could be wrong about the catch not carrying.

“Umpires can make mistakes. But it did look like it bounced ahead of the keeper to me. I might be wrong. The way (Fakhar) was batting, if he had batted through the powerplay, we would probably have scored 190.

“But those are calls for umpires to make. To me, it looked like it bounced before the keeper. I might be mistaken, but so might be the umpire.”