ICC World Cup: Pakistan's dismal fielding contributes to huge defeat against Australia

New Delhi: Pakistan would have hoped to bowl and field well after a sorry batting performance against Australia their quarter-final against Australia at the Adelaide Oval. Though they ticked off the bowling mark with Wahab Riaz firing in, their fielding let them down as two dropped catches proved costly in the end.

Pakistan made a paltry 213 runs and needed a commendable performance in the field to take Australia's 10 wickets. Wahab Riaz bowled with fire and got two Aussie batsmen back in the dug-out before Shane Watson came in when the scorecard read 59/3.

Riaz made it difficult for Watson whose stay at the crease looked vulnerable and edgy. After some fiery short balls that troubled him, Watson finally went for a pull shot and played it straight up in the air to Rahat Ali at deep fine-leg. But the pacer dropped a fairly simple catch.

Watson survived Riaz's spell and went on to hit the winning runs for Australia after making a good looking 65.

After Steven Smith's dismissal off Ehsan Adil's bowling, Glenn Maxwell came to the crease and early in his innings Riaz saw another catch being dropped off his own bowling and this time it was Sohail Khan. Maxwell went on to make an unbeaten 44 runs and gave Australia the impetus to kill the game.

Riaz's spell was one of the best in modern day cricket and gave Pakistan every chance to get back in the game, but two dropped catches saw Aussies elope away.

Pakistan's batting effort was pleasing to the eye but it was their fielding in the end that overshadowed everything else.