We were 40 runs short, captain Mangal says
Afghan camp feels team could have scored a historic win against Pakistan if the middle order had fired
Sharjah: Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal feels that if his team had scored another 40 runs, they could have created history by beating Pakistan in their first one-day match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
"Our start was very good. Unfortunately our middle order collapsed and that prevented us from making a big score. Luckily we had a nice sixth wicket partnership between Mohammad Nabi and Samiullah Shenwari, which gave solidity to our innings, but our tail failed to wag and we were short of about 40 runs. Our target was 240 to 250 plus and if we could have achieved that score I am sure we had the bowling to defend such a score."
Mangal feels that the turning point of the match was Nabi's run out. "It was the turning point. Nabi is a real good hitter especially in the power play stages and if he would have been at the wicket a bit longer, for at least seven or eight overs, then our score would have been bigger. He was a set batsman at that time and we lost him at a very crucial stage."
Asked what his team has learned from the experience, Mangal told Gulf News: "We learned a lot from this game. The single most important factor that we learned from this game is the maturity needed to play a one-day game, especially against tougher sides.
Big game experience
"If we can consistently play games against such big teams, we will learn a lot and gain more confidence and experience from playing such games," said Mangal, who feels the unavailability of best pacer, Hamid Hassan, due to an injury was a setback.
"Hassan's absence was a big loss for the team. His presence gives our team a good combination and enhances the morale of the team."
Mangal said that his team's expectations were very high. "We had come to win this game but unfortunately we could not achieve the desired result. But we are quite satisfied with our fielding and bowling. We need to improve our batting and ability to build big partnerships. I believe that it was the big partnership between Younus Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq that took the game away from us."
