Left too many to get in final session – Azhar

Pakistan’s stand-in captain Azhar Ali said his team had been 30 to 35 runs short of where they would have liked to have been at tea, suggesting that perhaps the subsequent collapse was sparked by a high required rate. Pakistan had needed 211 runs at the break, with 34 overs remaining in the match – meaning they effectively needed 6.2 runs an over to achieve the unlikely target. The three batsmen who fell soon after tea all perished playing attacking strokes.

“When we came out after lunch we thought that this pitch is still good enough – the ball is not doing a lot now,” Azhar said. “We thought we can push the run rate up a bit. When the amount of overs is small and the target gets nearer, it’s easier to push things harder. At tea we really wanted to get around 170-180, but we left 30-35 runs too much to get at the last session. We didn’t get going. That 30-35 runs would have been helpful.”

Though …

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