Pakistan opening batsman Imam-Ul-Haq made 70 runs in the first One Day International against South Africa in Centurion on Friday and laid foundation of his side’s three-wicket win over the hosts by adding 177 runs for the second wicket with skipper Babar Azam, who notched his 13th ODI hundred in 73 innings.
But the star batsman is disappointed with himself for not being able to finish the game, which became a nail-bitter by the end.
Chasing 274, Men in Green was sitting comfortably at 186/1. But Anrich Nortje’s introduction reduced them to 203/5 in the 38th over.
“You know there’s this pandemic bringing everyone down these days and so we thought we’d entertain people a little,” Imam said after the game.
However he admitted that his and Babar’s inability to keep their stand going and wrap up the chase is worrisome for a side hoping to rise up and take a shot at winning a big tournament in the next couple of years.
“But on a serious note, if you want to win big tournaments and become a top-three team... it’s not as if we don’t talk about this in our meetings, it gets discussed, that if your top three get set in white-ball, then in other teams they don’t just make 100, they get 150,” Imam was quoted saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“That is what we’re trying to do, like Babar Azam and I were set today, we should finish the game. We were playing an ODI after a long time. We want to learn from our mistakes and turn these 70s and 80s into matchwinning knocks and turn a win like this into a seven or six-wicket win,” he added.
Talking about his own performance, Imam said: “To be honest, I’m very disappointed in not finishing the game. I’ve been waiting one and a half years since my last hundred (against Bangladesh in 2019 ICC World Cup). I haven’t had that many opportunities in the last year. You don’t always get what you want, but I’ve got two more games to make up for it.”
South Africa and Pakistan will now lock horns in the second ODI on Sunday.