We fought till the last ball: Misbah Port Elizabeth, November 27 South Africa again choked under pressure and allowed Pakistan to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the second ODI in Port Elizabeth. Chasing a competitive 262 in a rain- reduced 45-overs a side contest, South Africa were well on their way to a comfortable victory before some lacklustre batting coupled with some excellent bowling from Pakistan saw the hosts fall short by 1 run. With the victory, Pakistan sealed the three-match series with an unassailable 2-0 lead. They created history as it was the first time ever that Pakistan had beaten South Africa in an ODI series. Earlier in the day, Pakistan set a challenging 261/6 off their allotted 45 overs. Ahmed Shehzad starred with the bat with a brilliant ton that set the tone for the likes of Umar Akmal and Bilawal Bhatti to provide the impetus at the death. Man of the match, Shehzad stated that batting wasnt easy in the first half as the wicket was slow and the ball wasnt coming onto the bat. To be very honest, the ball was not coming onto the bat easily. As soon as the lights came on, ball came on to the bat. Ever since I came from West Indies, my captain supported me throughout. Our management is very professional, the way Mohin bhai is handing the troops, its amazing. The management have been doing a tremendous job outside the field as well. It is pleasing for any opening batsman to make a hundred in South Africa and that too at a young age. Shahid Afridi was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers. He got rid of Quinton de Kock and Jacques Kallis and conceded just 38 off his 9 overs. Shehzad had a word of praise for him and said, Shahid bhai bowled very well, the other spinners too bowled well. The Pakistani skipper, Misbah-ul-Haq was thrilled with the series win and hailed the efforts of his bowlers who held their nerves towards the end, put pressure on South Africa and pulled off a remarkable win. Honestly speaking, the game was slipping out of our hands. It was a superb team effort. Catches were taken, runs were stopped in the end. The way Junaid Khan bowled was a tremendous effort. The team wanted this victory. We fought till the last ball. Misbah said he was very pleased with the positive and the never-say-die attitude shown by the team. He complimented Shehzad and urged his team to continue the good work and aim for a clean 3-0 sweep. I think the two-three games in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi we should have won. The attitude was the difference here. We wanted to prove to the world that we can win here. Ahmed Shezad made a superb hundred. We also want to win the last game. South Africa were cruising and at one stage it seemed would win with plenty to spare. Hashim Amla and Ab de Villiers had added a splendid century stand and all but wrapped up the match for the home side. The Proteas needed just 36 runs from 6.3 overs with seven wickets in hand. But some inspirational bowling from Junaid Khan and Saeed Ajmal coupled with some insipid batting from South Africa turned the match on its head and eventually handed a sensational one-run win to Pakistan. AB de Villiers, the South African skipper was very disappointed with the efforts of the batsmen for gifting the match away after being in control for the majority of the chase. It was close and was disappointing. It was very disappointing as the game was in our pocket. After Amla fell, we lost the momentum. After losing this series here, there will be a lot of questions asked but we have some positives to take from this series AB had a word of praise for the Pakistani bowlers adding that his own bowlers were a touch guilty of leaking a few runs in the slog overs. They are a world class team and have world class bowlers. We gave it away. We were a bit ill-disciplined with the ball. Our ground fielding too was worrying.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 05:52:11 +0000
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