ISLAMABAD: Pakistan go into their second One-day International against South Africa eyeing a series win, following their thrilling victory in the first match, which they won on the very last ball.
Captain Babar Azam said that the morale-boosting win had set up the tempo for an even better performance in the second outing at the Wanderers on Sunday (today).
“We are looking forward to warp up the series by winning the second ODI,” he said in a video, released by the PCB.
“Though we managed to beat South Africa in the first game, I think there is room for improvement. We should have won it convincingly.
“We dominated the game majority of the stay in the middle,” the skipper said.
He vowed not to repeat mistakes that were there in the first one-dayer. “Look we gave too many runs in the last overs. We could have restricted the hosts to a lower total as we completely dominated the early hours removing their top-order within the first 20 overs of the match. Our bowlers bowled brilliantly upfront.
“While in batting we also dominated and should have finished the match much earlier. A few wreckless shots made it difficult at the end.
“We hope not to repeat these mistakes in the second ODI. We have to show more professionalism and win the second and with it the series,” said Babar.
On his own innings that saw him scoring his 13th century in ODIs, Babar said his century was important in that it set up the tempo for the chase. “Apart from my partnership along with Imamul Haq, Shadab and Faheem stand was also crucial,” he added.
Pakistan are unlikely to make any change to the XI that played the first match.
A team official told this correspondent that changes were unlikely. “But it depends on the wicket that will be there,” he added.
