Champions Trophy 2013: Pathetic batting pains Misbah

Birmingham: Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq is baffled by the batting failure of his side, which is struggling to stay alive in the Champions Trophy after two successive defeats.

Pakistan lost by 67 runs to South Africa today and now face arch-rivals India in the must-win contest on Saturday. Pakistan now must beat India and pray that results of some other matches go in their favour. Chasing 235, Pakistan today were all out for 167. "It was a gettable total but batting failed. The batsmen were in good form in the practice games but I don`t know what has happened. The pitch was a little slow, but we could have chased it," Misbah said after the defeat. "It was a good bowling effort, 234 was getable. It was simple, you needed 4.5 runs an over. We could not knock it around. The 15 overs were poor and in the middle overs we did not rotate (strike). But still it was bat-able, we should have chased," he added. The Pakistan skipper, who top scored for his side with a 55-run knock, wanted his players to "forget about these two games before meeting India." South African skipper AB de Villiers said the victory was very satisfying in the backdrop of defeat against India the other day. "The victory is sweet. We were so disappointed after losing to India. We had done well in that game," he said. De Villiers said his batsmen did a commendable job by getting a good score considering the formidable Pakistan attack. "We got more than 200 against a quality attack on a tough wicket. The three spinners bowled very well. I wasn`t happy with 234, we set it up so well to get to 270 even. After I got out I thought 220 was also a good score," he said. Asked what were the chances of Dale Styen coming back, the Proteas skipper said, he will "most probably be ready for the next game." De Villiers acknowledged good show by young paceman Chris Morris in the absence of Steyn and Morne Morkel. "Morris had a wonderful debut. We missed him (Steyn) in the last two games but good to see that other stepped up." Man-of-the-match Hashim Amla, who scored 81 off 97 balls, said , "The wicket was a bit difficult early on. We were just going to play normal cricket. It`s been tough going with the two white balls. We have a really good squad, a young team." PTI