Muneeba Ali pretty much carried the entire batting lineup as Pakistan found themselves at the mercy of Dubai heat and a slow pitch in their opening Asia Cup game against Thailand. Batting first, Pakistan could only reach 119 runs, which, despite the slow wicket, did not seem enough against a side they should have played to better their NRR.
Barring Muneeba, who scored a 52-ball 54, only three other batters got into double figures. The 119-run total would have been even lower if it hadn’t been for late-innings cameos by Tuba Hassan and Um-e-Hani, but Muneeba still believes a few good shots were what Pakistan missed in the end.
“We were obviously looking to score more than 140 today, but unfortunately the wickets kept falling, so we had to hold back a little,” Muneeba, who was awarded the Player of the Match award, said. “We missed a few shots in the end. If we can address those things, I think we can play good cricket against India.”
Pakistan’s batting struggles continue
Playing in the T20 World Cup, they could only get one consolation win against Netherlands, after being eliminated three games into the World Cup. Following the World Cup, they also endured a series loss against Sri Lanka, winning only the third game of the series after the hosts had won it.
A constant theme remained in the background of all of their recent losses, that is, batting collapses, of which they suffered more than the partnerships they built, and paid heavily for that.
“Obviously, in the last T20I series we played before Sri Lanka, our batting unit did not click the way it should have,” Muneeba added. “We have had quite a few struggles in that area, and we have continued working on it in the camps. Hopefully, we will not repeat the same mistakes we made before and will bring some different options into our batting.”
Muneeba pleased with Pakistan’s recovery
Although Pakistan had their classic batting collapse against Thailand as well, Muneeba is happy with how the side recovered instead of succumbing. Pakistan were five down with only 77 runs on the board in the 13th over. The fall of wickets only allowed Pakistan to get to a modest total, but bowlers, especially spinners, standing up at the time when it mattered helped the side buffer their mistakes.
“If you look at it, when we lost five wickets, previously we weren’t able to come back into the match. Today, that was a little better. Even after the wickets fell, the team still kept its composure and believed that we could get a total that would be defendable on this wicket against the opposition. So the idea was that 120-plus or 130-plus would be defendable on this wicket with our bowling attack. When our first plan did not work, we tried to achieve that by batting a little longer. So that was something I really liked.”
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