“ If you lost confidence once, it could be really difficult for you as a batsman to just come out of that, and unfortunate that our top order is just in that kind of mental state. So it’s really difficult for me, also, and the lower- and the middle-order batsmen to just keep on going like that.”—Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq on top-order collapses.

“Over the next few days we’ll ... have a sit down with the backroom staff, and debrief the game, and see where we’ve gone wrong and how we can get better. You look at the best sides, the best bowlers, and they’re predicted to be good. When we’re firing, we are predictably good.”—England skipper Eoin Morgan hoping his team will play better after being thrashed by Sri Lanka.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2015

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