‘Afghans disappointed with missed chance’
abu dhabi — Afghanistan players are disappointed at missing the opportunity to register a maiden victory over Pakistan, coach Phil Simmons said.
Afghanistan lost an absorbing Asia Cup thriller in Abu Dhabi by conceding 10 runs in the last over. In a nail-biting finish, Pakistan’s experienced hand Shoaib Malik spanked Aftab Alam for a four and maximum to break Afghan hearts.
“There is a bit of disappointment. Alam is most disappointed for the last couple of balls. General atmosphere is always good in the team.”
Instead of making excuse of back-to-back matches, Simmons acknowledged lack of runs on the board as a reason for failure.
“It’s a case where we didn’t score enough runs. The wicket was better than the first two matches. We didn’t bat well. We give full credit to Pakistan. They batted well, especially Shoaib Malik towards the end. All in all, it was a top-class match. This was a missed opportunity (to beat Pakistan for the first time). At one time, it looked like Imam Ul Haq and Babar Azam were taking the game away from us. We showed lot of fight and got back into the game but at the end their batting proved too strong for us.”
Despite the loss, Simmons said he was proud of the way the boys had played so far in the tournament. Afghanistan humiliated Sri Lanka, thrashed Bangladesh and almost ran down Pakistan. And they have improved their set totals — Sri Lanka (249), Bangladesh (255) and Pakistan (257).
“I had spoken about the batting before coming here. Batting seems to be doing fine. It is good to see that everything has come together. I hope we can put together everything in the next eight months or so before the World Cup.”
Afghanistan has some of the best spinners and the coach said the team was looking to bolster their pace department. “We are working on getting a few young fast bowlers.”
Meanwhile, skipper Asghar Afghan pointed out the missed catch of Shoaib Malik in 38th over as a turning point in the game. Keeper Mohammad Shahzad dropped a tough chance in Rashid Khan’s over when Shoaib was on 11.
“If Malik had been taken, it would have been easy for us. But when you give a chance to a mature batsman, it becomes difficult. Our fielding didn’t work along with our seam bowling,” Asghar added.