Dropping Yuvraj Singh early in his innings and allowing him to forge a century stand with Mahendra Singh Dhoni cost Pakistan the match.
KANPUR: Dropping Yuvraj Singh early in his innings and allowing him to forge a century stand with Mahendra Singh Dhoni cost Pakistan the match, rued visiting captain Shoaib Malik.
Yuvraj was batting on 26 when he went for a slog-sweep off Malik as the ball went spiralling up and Salman Butt could not hold on to the catch.
Pakistan were made to pay for the folly as Yuvraj went on to slam 77 and add 100 runs for the fourth wicket off 92 balls with Dhoni to power India to an imposing total of 294.
"It was a costly drop. It allowed him to join hands with Dhoni and take upper hand. We were pretty much in control till the 27th-28th over but after that, things just went out of hand. The partnership between Yuvi and Dhoni was the turning point of the match," Malik told a press conference.
He, however, also had a word of praise for Butt, who fought tooth and nail even though his career best 129 was not enough in the end.
"I think if any other batsman could have scored 70-80, we would have won the match. He played well but we did not have partnerships in the middle," the Pakistani skipper said.
Malik admitted the team think-tank decided to send Shahid Afridi to open the innings because of his past record at the venue where the all-rounder had hit a 45-ball century in 2005.
"He played as an opener in that match and the wicket today looked similar, so we decided to send him at the top."
Malik also felt that his side had conceded 50-odd extra runs to shoot themselves in the foot.
"On this track, where the ball is not coming to the bat, 250 is gettable. We should have restricted them to 250. A target of 295 was always going be stiff," he said.
Admitting that the team morale was little down after the defeat, Malik, however, promised to fightback and do best to win the next two matches to clinch the series.
He also sought to defend his own form and stumper Kamran Akmal's prolonged bad patch.
"I think defeats begets such doubts about our capabilities. Akmal has done well in the past, one of the better batsman-keeper, only Adam Gilchrist probably has more hundreds. Everyone goes through this phase and he's no different."
"Besides, there was no question of trying a new face in a tour like this where the pressure is so immense," Malik argued.
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