Azhar urges improvement ahead of Lord’s encounter

Azhar urges improvement ahead of Lord’s encounter

SOUTHAMPTON, England: Skipper Azhar Ali is fully aware that Pakistan have to evolve in the 50-over format and have to evolve fast if they are catch up with the world’s leading teams.

Their defeat in the opening One-day International (ODI) against England here at the Ageas Bowl on Wednesday night was yet another reminder of the fact that Pakistan’s dismal ninth place in the ODI rankings isn’t entirely unwarranted.

Pakistan seem to be stuck in a nineties time warp. They need to change and catch up with the rest of the cricket world.

A thinking cricketer like Azhar Ali knows that.

And he is promising that his team will change its game plan in the coming games.

“We played too many dot balls, bowled too short and our fielding was below-par,” Azhar said after his team slumped to defeat in the rain-affected match.

Pakistan took the field against England in Southampton on a high as their Test team had just ascended to number one in the world rankings. The ODI line-up celebrated that honour with a 255-run thrashing of Ireland in Dublin last week prompting Azhar to warn England that Pakistan will be bringing their best foot forward in the one-day series as well.

They fell way short of doing that at a packed Ageas Bowl. After choosing to bat first in warm and dry conditions, Pakistan were well-placed to reach a score of around 290 thanks to fifties from Azhar and Sarfraz Ahmed but could just accumulate 260-6. Pakistan failed to fire in the last 15 overs.

Azhar, who ended his lean patch in ODIs with 82, conceded that their total was at least 30 runs short

“Obviously we always look to score 300, but definitely 280-290 [was needed],” he said.

“One of your top order has to score and bat long, triple figures would be nice and you always build a total when the top order perform. I would have loved to continue but we had to make up for a lot of dot balls, especially in the middle part.

“I think our total wasn’t enough for this kind of pitch. We didn’t bowl well in the right areas. The pitch was good but we bowled a bit too short at the start.

“England are playing positively. We leaked too many runs which was why we couldn’t have an attacking field.

“Our fielding wasn’t up to the mark. There were many lapses. We are a better fielding side than this. We need to improve in that area as well.”

Pakistan moved to London on Thursday where they will take on England in the second ODI on Saturday (tomorrow).