LAHORE: Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi expressed dissatisfaction with his side’s loss against Australia in the second ODI and admitted that the team allowed the tourists to score 20-30 extra runs towards the end of the innings.
Speaking after the defeat, Afridi analyzed the ebbs and flows of the contest, noting that while the bowling unit did well to restrict Australia, there were lapses in the death overs that could have proved costly.
“I think we gave away 20-30 extra runs towards the end,” Afridi said. “We lost wickets early on and that built pressure on us, but we could not manage to recover proper.” The captain also shed light on the nature of the surface, describing it as a venue that offered significant assistance to spinners. He noted that batting was particularly difficult in the first innings compared to the second.
“It is a spinning track, not easy to bat on,” Afridi explained. “Yes, in the second innings the ball comes nicely onto the bat, but the way Nathan Ellis bowled well; he bowled at stump to stump and that brought him success.”
With the third ODI scheduled quickly after the first, Afridi emphasized the need for a quick mental reset. He labeled the upcoming match as a potential series decider and stated that the team would not dwell on the errors from this game given the tight schedule. “We will try to win the game. There’s just a day’s gap, so we won’t look too much at our mistakes,” the left-arm pacer remarked.
Turning his attention to the technical aspects of his bowling unit, Afridi highlighted the importance of line and length on surfaces that offer little lateral movement. He explained that the bowlers had to adapt quickly once the ball stopped swinging.
“Yes, on these wickets, the more you bowl in the line of the stumps, the more it helps since it doesn’t swing much,” he noted. “When it started to reverse, the ball was changed so our bowlers didn’t get much help from the old ball.”
