India had a victory in the highly anticipated match against Pakistan with a 228-run difference in the fourth match of the Asia Cup 2023.
Pakistan Coach’s positive approach on defeat against India
The match was originally scheduled to be played on September 11 but rain interrupted the match forcing India to stop their innings with 21 overs. After resuming the match at the reserve day India scored 356 runs on 50 overs and set a huge target against Pakistan.
But Pakistan was able to score only 128 runs in their innings, where two players were sidelined and Agha Salman got injured in the face. After defeat, the Pakistan head coach said the defeat is required to keep the team in check.
He said, “We’re very grateful for the gift that has been these last two days because to come at this stage of the tournament – and to come before the World Cup – it’s a wonderful opportunity first to play India,” Bradburn said. “We don’t get to play some of the best players in the world very often. Also to play in conditions that may be similar in the World Cup.
“We haven’t lost a game for three months, and it’s a timely reminder for us to turn up every day, put our best on the park. It’s actually a gift that over the last two days we haven’t quite done that.”
He spoke about their batting has not been as good as they expected. The players are pushing hard to to the best and trust the players.
“Our batting unit hasn’t quite clicked yet over the past month, and we feel that’s a positive thing,” he said. “We have full trust in them. We are very consistent in our selection. We’re very consistent with the way that we’re developing contenders for each position. We’ve got some wonderful bench players who are pushing hard. We’re believing strong in the players we trust. And we will continue to. We know that they will come right.”
He continued that their fielding was not up to the extent and had to improve a lot.
“We weren’t proud of our fielding in Kandy either, against India,” Bradburn said. “It’s something we’ve worked hard on, and it is improving big time within the group. We have some outstanding fielders. And we’ve been catching very well. We didn’t win the fielding battle.”
Pakistan will be playing their next match against Sri Lanka on the 5th match of the Asia Cup at September 14, at R. Premadasa Stadium.
