Aizaz Cheema (MoM):-
I was under a lot of pressure but the captain came to me and asked me not to get defensive and to continue to attack. With the newer ball I thought it will come onto the bat even if I bowl the slower deliveries so I kept that for the end. I am very happy with my performance today because the way the opposition started today I thought it wouldn't be my day. But Afridi and the captain came to me and asked me to bowl with aggression and bowl some bouncers so that really helped me.
Misbah:-
Once we lost three wickets they were in the hunt but I think Umar and I batted really well today. I just kept telling him to play normal shots, it is just a matter of batting 50 overs and we knew if we kept batting the runs would come. When Cheema was hit for a lot of fours in the first few overs I told him that his main weapon is aggression and he must use that. You can't look to just restrict on these sort of wickets. It gives us a real edge to have a bowlers like Ajmal in our side. It was important for me to just come and play a good knock to get my confidence back after the England series. We have to improve our performance despite the win. We need to improve our batting if we can do that then our batting will always keep us in the hunt.
Mahela:-
I think our fans have always supported us everywhere. I think where we went wrong was with our batting. We got a good start but lost wickets too frequently and exposed our lower middle order too early. I was timing the ball well, I guess when you start hitting the ball that well you start taking a few risks. I think thats what happened and a lot was left to be done for Kumar. It is disappointing, you always go into any tournament coming in to win and you want to get into the final. So it is disappointing when you don't. We looked a little flat today, we just have to keep improving and look to get back for the remaining games well. .The batting order can go either way. The day the seniors retire there will be no one to bat in the middle order if I continue to stick to that position. These youngsters have batted well so far, they have made a few mistakes but one can only learn from mistakes. Difficult to get into an argument about the batting order just after one match.
Pakistan have outclassed their opponents today. Mahela who has impressed as a captain so far looked absolutely clueless today. Sri Lanka failed to put up a challenging total on the board and despite making a few early inroads, the total was just not enough. Umar Akmal and Misbah steadied the ship after those quick losses and really took their side through till the end. Akmal perished in the process of trying to secure the bonus point but Hammad Azam came in and struck the 5th ball that he faced to the fence to secure that extra point. Sri Lanka have had a dismal Asia Cup so far and now they are more or less out of the tournament. There is a mathematical chance for them to go through to the final but for that they need a few results to go in their favour. Pakistan are now almost through to the final
I was under a lot of pressure but the captain came to me and asked me not to get defensive and to continue to attack. With the newer ball I thought it will come onto the bat even if I bowl the slower deliveries so I kept that for the end. I am very happy with my performance today because the way the opposition started today I thought it wouldn't be my day. But Afridi and the captain came to me and asked me to bowl with aggression and bowl some bouncers so that really helped me.
Misbah:-
Once we lost three wickets they were in the hunt but I think Umar and I batted really well today. I just kept telling him to play normal shots, it is just a matter of batting 50 overs and we knew if we kept batting the runs would come. When Cheema was hit for a lot of fours in the first few overs I told him that his main weapon is aggression and he must use that. You can't look to just restrict on these sort of wickets. It gives us a real edge to have a bowlers like Ajmal in our side. It was important for me to just come and play a good knock to get my confidence back after the England series. We have to improve our performance despite the win. We need to improve our batting if we can do that then our batting will always keep us in the hunt.
Mahela:-
I think our fans have always supported us everywhere. I think where we went wrong was with our batting. We got a good start but lost wickets too frequently and exposed our lower middle order too early. I was timing the ball well, I guess when you start hitting the ball that well you start taking a few risks. I think thats what happened and a lot was left to be done for Kumar. It is disappointing, you always go into any tournament coming in to win and you want to get into the final. So it is disappointing when you don't. We looked a little flat today, we just have to keep improving and look to get back for the remaining games well. .The batting order can go either way. The day the seniors retire there will be no one to bat in the middle order if I continue to stick to that position. These youngsters have batted well so far, they have made a few mistakes but one can only learn from mistakes. Difficult to get into an argument about the batting order just after one match.
Pakistan have outclassed their opponents today. Mahela who has impressed as a captain so far looked absolutely clueless today. Sri Lanka failed to put up a challenging total on the board and despite making a few early inroads, the total was just not enough. Umar Akmal and Misbah steadied the ship after those quick losses and really took their side through till the end. Akmal perished in the process of trying to secure the bonus point but Hammad Azam came in and struck the 5th ball that he faced to the fence to secure that extra point. Sri Lanka have had a dismal Asia Cup so far and now they are more or less out of the tournament. There is a mathematical chance for them to go through to the final but for that they need a few results to go in their favour. Pakistan are now almost through to the final
