KANDI: Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi lamented his inability to form a substantial partnership following the narrow defeat against England, insisting that the lack of a ‘set batter’ in the middle overs would cost him the chance to post a defendable total.
Asked to bat first, Pakistan managed just 164-9 in a thrilling encounter at the Pallekale International Cricket Ground.
Despite England stumbling to two wickets and five balls to spare, the total was never good enough on a new, real surface that offered little help to the bowlers early on.
Afridi returned to spectacular form with figures of 4/30 – including the prized wicket of centurion Harry Brook – to deny what might have been.
He pointed to Pakistan’s failure to gain a foothold in the middle stages of their innings as the deciding factor.
“I feel you need a partnership on a wicket like this, a set batsman at that position who can bat throughout the middle overs,” Afridi said.
But unfortunately we kept wickets back and that’s why we didn’t go for that 180-190 score.
The pitch used for this match is different from the pitch England faced in their previous match against Sri Lanka on Sunday, which was already used during the tournament.
The new surface on Tuesday was significantly better for the stroke game, making the initial target of 165 even thinner.
Pakistan’s innings stalled early on as it failed to perform in match-defining situations, with the middle order unable to strike consistently against a disciplined England attack.
Afridi was at odds with the England innings, where Harry Brook anchored the chase with a composed knock, effectively rotating the strike before accelerating at the death.
“If you look, when England are batting, Harry Brooke is at the crease, he is in the strike cycle, he is building partnerships. I think we missed this opportunity to build partnerships.
“A partnership means you have to have someone at the crease who can go for singles and two runs. You need eight or nine runs in an over throughout a T20 innings if you want to build a partnership. Middle face Adil Rashid bowled well, so I think that credit goes to him.”
Despite the defeat, the match marked a return for Afridi, who had been sidelined or underutilized on spin-friendly tracks in Colombo earlier in the tournament.
After struggling to hit his straps in Pakistan’s first three games, he made an immediate impact by dismissing Phil Salt on the very first ball of England’s reply, and continued to raise questions.
“Whenever I play, my job is to take early wickets. That’s why I bowl the first over. Today I was planning how to take that first wicket.”