July 01, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 26, 1429

KARACHI, June 30: Former Test wicket-keeper and chief selector Wasim Bari expressed his surprise over skipper Shoab Malik’s decision of electing to field first in the crucial match of the Asia Cup against Sri Lanka on Sunday.

Pakistan lost the key match by 64 runs as the defeat also made their chances to qualify for July 6 final quite dim. “I wonder why Malik bungled up the golden opportunity of winning the match with his decision of electing to field against Sri Lanka,” said Bari while talking to Dawn on Monday.

”I also don’t know how our batsmen gave wickets to Ajantha Mendis. Though Mendis has a good arm but he could have been handled better,” he added. “While Younus and Shoaib made good contributions, they played slowly and that put pressure on others. And if they had settled down well, one of them should have gone on to score a hundred.”

Bari gave the example of Kumar Sangakkara who not only struck a superb ton to lay strong foundation for the win but also kept the run-rate high with singles and twos.

Bari said the Sri Lankans clearly showed a more positive approach and delivered their best.However, he avoided to predict the ultimate winner of the Asia Cup. “It is one-day cricket and any team which plays well on a given day can wins. So I will not make any predictions about the winner of the final,” he said.

The former captain also criticised the performance of Shahid Afridi and said he should have played his due role for which he is well known in world of cricket. “Afridi is a match-winner and he has proved it on many occasions in the past. But the way he got out was amazing and reckless,” he concluded.