September 16, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 03, 1428

DURBAN, Sept 15: Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif, who demolished India’s top-order batting, expressed his disappointment over the way his team lost against arch-rivals in the Twenty20 World Championship match on Friday night.

Asif destroyed the Indian batting order, taking one wicket each in all of his four overs in the match which ended in a thrilling tie and then India won it 3-0 in the bowl-out stage.

“Seeing that result at the end of the day was disappointing as we were just in sight of a victory which turned into a defeat despite our best efforts,” Asif said on Saturday.

Asif, who has established his reputation as a seasoned pace bowler, said though he helped his team get control of the match but, he added, in the end despite a good team effort the victory slipped out of their hands.

On the Pakistan-India matches Asif said these games always carried tense moments, excitement and that was why, he continued, people loved to watch these.

The pace bowler expressed the confidence that Pakistan would come up with a better combination to play against Australia in the Super Eights match in Johannesburg followed by another Super Eights game either against Sri Lanka or New Zealand.

“But the task is not easy because there are two top teams of the world in line and we’ll

have to do it flawlessly,” he asserted.

He emphasised that one defeat did not mean end of the fate for Pakistan, adding the team can do better.

“There is always room for improvement. Against India I took four wickets and I can claim more wickets in the next two games but for that I have to put in a bigger effort,” he stated.

—APP