While chasing a mammoth 368 runs on Friday night, the Pakistan batters crumbled under the pressure of the run rate. The batters, trying to take on the Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa, constantly kept losing wickets to him. Former Pakistani players were unhappy with the choice of shot selection the batters used to attack the Aussie spinner.
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When Iftikhar Ahmed smashed a few sixes, there was a ray of hope that Pakistan could still do the unthinkable of chasing the highest target in World Cups, until he tried to cut Zampa’s ball and was trapped in front of the wickets. Zampa ended up with four wickets in the game, helping Australia win by 62 runs.
“Misbah-ul-Haq and Shoaib (Malik) were here in the studio and were suggesting that they should play him (Zampa) on the front foot, since his ball will skid on because the ball is wet. And you played him on the back foot and got yourself out,” former Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram would say on A Sports.
Earlier in the innings, Zampa picked up the wicket of Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam in the 26th over when things were looking in balance for both sides. Babar started quickly off the blocks and was looking in good touch. However, he got himself out trying to pull Zampa’s delivery. He was caught by Pat Cummins at mid-wicket inside the ring.
“Adam Zampa is bowling wicket-to-wicket and is cramping you for room. He wants you to play square of the wicket and get you out bowled or LBW. How did our batters get out today?” questioned Misbah-ul-Haq.
Misbah would also compare the number of sixes Pakistan’s batters hit, which is six, to Australia’s 19. He mentioned the Australian batters’ intent to pull the short ball for six, while the Pakistan batters tend to be a bit more defensive and look for a four instead of a maximum, despite the small boundaries in Chinnaswamy.
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Misbah suggested the Pakistan batters should have played the ball down the ground instead of square. “Nobody was trying to play the ball down the ground. Take enough room so that you can extend your arms and target the long-on boundary. We were playing through square, mid-wicket or towards point,” he would say.
On the contrary, whenever a new bowler would come into his new spell, Mitchell Marsh would always look to go down the ground off the very first ball and would more often than not get a six off it. Even though not all the shots were coming off the middle of the bat, they still flew for sixes.
Marcus Stoinis, who chipped in with a couple of wickets too, would get his scalps in a similar fashion when the batters tried to play the ball on either side of the square rather than looking to go down the ground. His double-wicket spell in the middle overs was also one of the turning points in the game.