BRISTOL: Century-maker Imam-ul-Haq has blamed the bowlers for the loss against England despite having set a mammoth target for the hosts. Opening batsman Jonny Bairstow’s blistering 128 off 93 balls helped World Cup favourites to a six-wicket win in the third one-day international on Tuesday as they went 2-0 up in a five-match series with two to play. Imam felt Pakistan had a total they could defend although their cause was not helped by some naive bowling from an inexperienced attack and slipshod fielding. "The score was enough, 360 was a really good total," Imam said. "We just lost a couple of catches that cost us and our bowlers did not stick to the plan," the 23-year-old left-handed opener added Pakistan have made several recent tours of England and in 2017 they beat arch-rivals India in the final of the 50-over Champions Trophy at The Oval in south London. "We came here in the Champions Trophy so we know what these wickets are like," said Imam ahead of Friday’s fourth ODI at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, where the teams can expect another ideal batting pitch. "We know England are going to come hard at us, and we have to bowl better and play better cricket to win." https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/4...bowlers-for-loss-despite-big-total-in-3rd-odi
I know you made run Imam, but on that pitch, we were certainly 30/40 runs short. We totally lost the momentum in the last 10 overs. However, it doesnt mean that bowling effort was acceptable.
Imam can hardly be blamed. He played a blistering knock at the top, the batsmen below should've pushed stronger to get to 380.
I must say Asif Ali played a really selfish knock. Had Malik or Hafeez scored 52 off 43 on that pitch, at that position, everyone would have criticised them, but because its the golden boy everyone's praising him.
Can't blame the batsmen really. If our bowlers didn't make use of scoreboard pressure then its obvious they were not good enough.
batting and bowling were both below modern standards on these crap pitches and small grounds. any of the top sides would easily have got to 400, and any of the top sides would have bowled with more discipline. simples.
Batting can't be blamed after posting 360, which after the disasterous start of 27 for 2 was really a job well done. Bowlers need to work on defensive skills otherwise no matter how much we score, teams would chase it down in the WC!
