Dropped catches hurt us, says Nawaz

KARACHI: Pakistan’s gutsy all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz has said that lapses in the field hurt them in the second ODI against New Zealand here at the National Stadium on Wednesday.

“The wicket played a bit different earlier on and we made two lapses in the field which helped New Zealand build a partnership,” Nawaz told reporters after Pakistan were downed by New Zealand by 79 runs to level the three-match series 1-1 with a game in hand. “I dropped Conway in my first over and Williamson was also dropped. Had we held those catches the things could have been different,” he said.

“Had we fielded well we could have restricted them but still we restricted them in the middle of the innings but they bowled really well in the second innings,” said Nawaz, who took 4-38 and brought Pakistan back in the game.

He said he would have been much happier with his performance had Pakistan won the game.

“There is no much happiness because it would have been much better had the team won with this spell but effort will be made to do well in the next game,” he said.

Asked that he is not leaving a good impact as an all-rounder, Nawaz said: “In this series I went into bat for the first time. If you look at the last year so I have given performances. I am trying to work on weak areas and will live up to the expectations as an all-rounder.”

Nawaz agreed that Pakistan went into a shell after losing two early wickets while chasing 262 on a pitch which was not easy to bat on.

“It was a different pitch from the Karachi’s typical pitch. The way ball turned and bounced was the only reason why both teams could not play full overs. The conditions were difficult and we had lost two early wickets and the way Babar was playing, as it was our plan to go as deep in batting as possible, but unfortunately plans could not be executed,” he said.

“The credit also goes to New Zealand as they bowled tightly and kept us under pressure and effort will be made to win this series,” Nawaz was quick to add.