Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi praised the efforts of his bowlers after the team won the fourth match of the six-match One Day International series against New Zealand at Napier.
The Kiwi team batted first after winning the toss but Pakistani bowlers started superbly. They did not allow the Blackcaps to score runs freely in the opening overs and took five quick wickets to put the hosts on the back foot.Although New Zealand managed to post a decent total courtesy their middle-order batsmen, Pakistan chased down the target with 2 wickets and 6 balls to spare.
Afridi said that the wicket was good for batting and he expected more runs from the Kiwi team after they batted first.
The flamboyant all-rounder stated, “I think the way the boys bowled with the new ball, especially on this track which is like heaven for batsmen, it was really well and full credit goes to them.”
The Pakistan captain praised the efforts of pacer Wahab Riaz in particular and said that he has been working hard to do well for the team. He further said that Wahab was mentally very tough and has been a great addition to the team in all three formats of the game.
Moreover, Afridi did not hesitate at all in praising the efforts of the veteran middle-order batsman Misbah-ul-Haq, who played a brilliant innings in the match.
Misbah has been performing consistently well for his team recently. He is also a likely candidate for the World Cup captaincy of Pakistan but has been completely focused on his job as a senior member of the team.
Pakistan were struggling at one stage in the match on Tuesday when three of their top-order batsmen were back in the pavilion for 84 runs. Misbah joined the dependable Younis Khan at the crease and the pair took the team out of trouble with an 89-run partnership.
Pakistan collapsed in the later stages of the innings but Misbah guided his team to victory with a splendid innings of 93 runs off 91 balls. The victory was special for the visitors as it was their first ODI win at Napier.
The victory gave Pakistan a 2-1 lead in the series with two more matches still to be played. The home team has to win the next match on 3 February, 2011 in order to stay alive in the series.
