Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana admitted that her side was 15 runs short of a winning total in a six-wicket defeat to arch-rivals India in a women’s T20 World Cup match here on Sunday.
Asked to bowl, a disciplined India restricted Pakistan to 105 for eight but then adopted an overcautious approach while batting before skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s 24-ball 29 helped them achieve the target of 106 in 18.5 overs and register their first win of the tournament.
“Actually, starting with the bat, I think we were short like 10-15 runs in the batting because the pitch was good so we have to perform according to the pitch. So yes, we shall try in the next match so we can utilise the wicket properly,” Sana said at the post-match press conference.
Sana felt that anything above 130 would have been a winning score.
“…the pitches were slow. If we had gone to a maximum of 130, 140, I think we would have scored a good score.
“It’s a low-bounce pitch. And we didn’t utilise powerplay as we should have, so I think that is where our performance was affected,” she added.
Sana said there is always pressure in a match against India because of the fierce rivalry.
“Obviously when it’s a match against India. It’s always a high-pressure match. So, we just tried to enjoy as much as possible. When you know it’s a tough match, you try to enjoy and try make the most of it,” said Sana , who dismissed Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh off consecutive balls in the 16th over to be in line for a hat-trick, which didn’t happen.
The Pakistan skipper said they failed to pick up wickets at the right time, which cost them dearly.
“To be honest, it was not about the run rate, but we could have caught them (India) from here. I have seen many teams that have lost very close matches. The situation was like that. We tried to take maximum wickets here. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. But the girls fought well,” Sana said.
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