Abdullah-Shafique-20-10-23

20 October - Bengaluru - Pakistan player Abdullah Shafique post-match press conference

Abdullah-Shafique-20-10-23

[Reporter:]

134 was a good start. It was a solid opening stand. Then you both got out playing short. Then on one occasion, you needed 168 runs in 20 overs.

How will you summarise the match?

[Abdullah Shafique:]

First of all – Australia has played very well; we have to admit that and we have also put in our entire effort. As a bowling unit in the end, we bowled very well. Our batting was also good, but in the middle overs – we couldn’t finish well. Hopefully we will learn from this and perform better in the next matches.

[Reporter:]

We have seen in the past 2 matches that the Pakistani team is leaking a lot of runs in bowling, especially in the middle overs and this time even in the power play we have given a lot of runs. In such a situation do you feel pressure as a batsman when you're chasing such a big total?

[Abdullah Shafique:]

First of all, this is a team game. Sometimes a bowler can't bowl well, so as a batsman it is our job to cover up and put in an effort as a team and try to perform well.

The venue is such, a high score was expected. We were performing well, but we couldn’t finish well. That’s it. We will work on this.

[Reporter:]

You understand that catches win matches and right in the beginning we dropped Warner catch, then even by Babar and even your catch was a tricky one which you couldn’t take. So, you understand the score went up because of these missed catches?

[Abdullah Shafique:]

No, I don’t think so – catches obviously change your game, you get wickets and you get into momentum. All fielders are trying to do their best, but sometimes you don’t get that value. But we have given a good fight.

[Reporter:]

Do you think 368 was gettable on that surface. And I guess, how much confidence did you and Imam take from the way you guys were able to finish off the innings with the ball and restrict Australia to under 400, going into your batting innings?

[Abdullah Shafique:]

Yeah, we have chased down this total, like 345 in the previous match against Sri Lanka. We have confidence in our batting unit as well. But yeah, they bowled pretty well. So, they have ticked all of their boxes in the fielding and in the bowling as well. So, we gave a good effort like in the start we were going well. And then we couldn't finish well I guess yeah.