Belief rising as Pakistan turn attention to India at Asia Cup

Pakistan's plan for Saturday's Asia Cup meeting with India was written into the way they clawed back from trouble against Thailand, a mindset Muneeba Ali says is now sitting firmly at the core of this squad.

Pakistan lost early wickets in their Asia Cup opener against Thailand but recovered to post a defendable total that they were able to protect.

Muneeba credited their belief for the turnaround rather than any change in fortune.

“When wickets kept falling in the powerplay, we knew if we got a good partnership and kept on scoring runs, it would put the bowlers under pressure, and give us opportunities to score,” she said in the post-match press conference.

“That’s what my strategy was," she added.

She was equally direct about what has changed compared with recent tournaments, where a top-order stumble has often proven difficult to recover from.

"In the last few T20 series we played before Sri Lanka, our batting unit did not click as such and we had our struggles," she said. 

"We have been working on those issues in camps, to make sure we don’t repeat the same mistakes, and bring in some different options in our batting."

“Today the difference was that even when we lost wickets, the team kept belief and tried setting a total which would be defendable against the opposition on this pitch," she added.

The bowling unit matched that composure by restricting Thailand to 84/8 across their 20 overs to seal the win, with Nashra Sandhu conceding just six runs from her four overs. 

"I knew there was bounce and turn in the pitch, and that it was keeping low. I just had to bowl at the right spots, the pitch did the rest," Nashra said.

Tuba Hassan, who took two wickets for 17 runs from her four overs echoed her teammates thoughts.

“My plan was simple; bowl wicket-to-wicket and vary the pace as much as possible, because we also need to prepare for the next match,” said Tuba.

“These are exactly the things we need to learn from, so that we can make less mistakes in the next matches and play better," she added.

With that template now in place, Pakistan will look to carry the same belief into a fixture that has proven their toughest test in recent times when they take on India in the Asia Cup on Saturday.