It got a bit too close: Ponting

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: October 1, 2009

commentComment     Email This Post Email This Post     Printable version

Centurion: Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said that he is relieved that the Aussies were able to cross the line against Pakistan and secure their place in the semis.

After pulling off a last-ball win against Pakistan, Ponting lavished praise on the Pakistan bowlers for making life difficult for the Aussie batsmen and said that they would have to do some soul-searching before they take on England in the second semi-final on Friday.

“It was quite emotional and chilling to sit there in the dressing room and it really got too close. But we have crossed the line and we will meet England in the semi-finals in a couple of days’ time,” Ponting said. “We had a very good series against England over there but its different conditions here and I think they are playing really good cricket. We have to go back to the drawing board and see what went wrong in the last half an hour and make sure we play well in the next match on Friday.”

Ponting said that the Pakistan bowlers should be given credit for bowling like they did on a bouncy Centurion pitch and luckily for Australia they were able to restrict Pakistan for a small score.

“It was pretty tough to score runs. There was inconsistent bounce and pace for new ball bowlers and it was difficult getting them away,” he said. “But we knew it will be over and spinners will come into play and I think we are very lucky to restrict them to that total because there bowlers really bowled very well and did a good job in the last half an hour.”

His Pakistan counterpart Younis Khan was all praise for his bowlers for turning the game on its head and almost curving out a victory. “Actually after we lost the toss, Australia bowled fantastically to restrict us around 200 and they had good partnerships in the middle but suddenly our bowlers almost turned the match so I think it was a good finish,” he said.

“Whenever you take wickets, there lies the game. It looked like we will lose the match easily but then suddenly we had some fantastic bowling from a couple of our bowlers who took wickets and we were in the game,” he added.

Asked about the spongy track at the Centurion, Younis said the wicket was soft but far from being unplayable. “In the morning it was soft, but second half it was good… generally, it wasn’t a bad wicket to play cricket,” he said.

Asked if there are happy to take on New Zealand in the semis, Younis said it doesn’t matter because it will boil down to the team which will play good cricket on the day. “I am always happy. It doesn’t matter who we play, whether it is England, Australia or any team in the semis or final. We just have to stick to our plans and play good cricket and we can be winners,” he said.

Tagged with: , , , , , , ,


WPSN comments




Related News Headlines

Cricketain Latest