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| 15 October 2004 | Friday | 29 Shaban 1425 |
Openers made task easier, says Inzamam
LAHORE, Oct 14: Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq said on Thursday that a fine opening stand of 99 provided by Yasir Hameed and Salman Butt helped in chasing a formidable winning target of 294 set by Sri Lanka.
In the post-match press conference, Inzamam claimed that although the target was not an easy one yet he was expecting victory and added the openers made the task much easier.
The Pakistani skipper believed that dew factor played an important role as visitors could not field well in second session and had to be content with a wet ball which certainly did not help the bowlers.
"I have spoken to Marvan Atapattu to start Saturday's final earlier to avoid the dew factor and he will inform me after taking up the issue with his team management", he said. Asked why Shoaib Akhter bowled only four overs, he said that the bowler was troubled by hamstring problem.
"Shoaib will be examined by the doctors tomorrow after which the decision on his playing in the final or not will be decided", he said. However, he said he would not demand any replacement in case the paceman was declared unfit by the doctors.
Atapattu blamed his fielders to a large extent for the defeat citing dew factor but added it was a bad day for us otherwise the team was capable of defending such a challenging total.
Besides citing dew factor and poor out cricket for the loss, Atapattu believed that the team lacked a world class bowler implying the absence of spin king Murali Muralitharan.
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