DHAKA: Pakistan miscalculated the pitch in Dhaka and will learn from their mistakes after a crushing five-wicket loss to bitter rivals India, batsman Shoaib Malik said on Sunday.

Pakistan were bundled out for a paltry 83 in Saturday’s crucial T20 tie against Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side. They must win against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday to keep their Asia Cup hopes alive.

The game has an added significance as it will make Pakistan the first team to play 100 Twenty20 Internationals.

“Playing against India, it was a pressure game for both the teams,” Malik said after a training session in Dhaka. “We made some mistakes, we didn’t know what the conditions here would be. It was tough to bat yesterday. But we miscalculated somewhat, because we had no idea about the conditions.

“Now we have played. Now we know how to deal with it. It’s going to be a great game against UAE. Obviously, you learn from your mistakes, and that’s why we are here doing practice.

When Pakistan defended their meagre total, Mohammad Amir generated pace and swing with pinpoint accuracy on a helpful track to leave India rattled at 8-3 inside three overs.

But Virat Kohli coolly negotiated Amir’s fiery spell to strike 49 off 51 balls and steer India home with 27 balls to spare. Malik expressed full confidence in his bowlers and urged the batsmen to back them up.

“We know we have the best attack among all the teams. Batsmen have to take responsibility,” he said. “Whoever gets in has to score 60-70, so your team ends up scoring 140-150, which the bowlers can defend.”

Dhoni, meanwhile, on Saturday questioned umpires using earpieces during international matches, suggesting the devices might affect their decision-making on the field.

The skipper spoke out after a controversial umpiring decision that saw Pakistan’s Khurram Manzoor given not out despite apparently nicking a ball by left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra.

“You know all the umpires now have a walkie-talkie and earpiece in their ear,” Dhoni said. “So effectively, in a way it means that they are umpiring with only one ear and the other ear is stuck with an earpiece.”

Dhoni queried whether earpieces were always necessary, suggesting they were affecting umpires’ hearing.

He said: “They can’t hear and when it’s so loud... so definitely they should consider this thing. At least, have both the ears around, there is no point having an earpiece when a bowler is bowling as you don’t need to use it then.”

Television replays suggested that the ball hit Khurram on his gloves before it was caught by wicket-keeper Dhoni behind the stumps.

Dhoni had a chat with the Bangladeshi umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid on the field after he turned down India’s vociferous appeal.

Man-of-the-match Kohli hailed Amir for his brilliant efforts.

“I would like to congratulate Mohammad Amir for the way he bowled,” Kohli said. “I actually congratulated him while he was bowling. It was amazing to play such a spell.”

Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi rued his batsmen’s failure to read the wicket.

“We have played so much cricket. We should have read the pitch, we did not play according to the pitch,” said Afridi. “If we lose 4-5 batsmen in the first six overs, we can’t score 140.”

Kohli was later fined 30 per cent of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct in this game.

Kohli admitted to showing dissent after he was given out.

The ICC said in a release: “The incident happened in the 15th over of India’s innings when Kohli, after being given out leg before, displayed dissent by first showing his bat and then leaving the crease while looking back at the umpire and uttering some words that were contrary to the spirit of the game.”

Replays of the delivery showed that Kohli had inside edged the Sami delivery on to his pad but was given leg-before by on-field umpire Palliyaguruge.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Mohammad Hafeez c Dhoni b Nehra 4 Sharjeel Khan c Rahane b Bumrah 7 Khurram Manzoor run out 10 Shoaib Malik c Dhoni b Pandya 4 Umar Akmal lbw b Yuvraj 3 Sarfraz Ahmed b Jadeja 25 Shahid Afridi run out 2 Wahab Riaz lbw b Jadeja 4 Mohammad Sami c Raina b Pandya 8 Mohammad Amir b Pandya 1 Mohammad Irfan not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-11) 15

TOTAL (all out, 17.3 overs) 83

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-22, 3-32, 4-35, 5-35, 6-42, 7-52, 8-70, 9-8.

BOWLING: Nehra 3-0-20-1 (3w); Bumrah 3-2-8-1; Pandya 3.3-0-8-3; Yuvraj Singh 2-0-11-1; Jadeja 3-0-11-2 (3w); Ashwin 3-0-21-0 (5w).

INDIA:

R.G. Sharma lbw b Amir 0 A.M. Rahane lbw b Amir 0 V. Kohli lbw b Sami 49 S.K. Raina c Wahab b Amir 1 Yuvraj Singh not out 14 H.K. Pandya c Hafeez b Sami 0 M.S. Dhoni not out 7

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-3, W-8, NB-2) 14

TOTAL (for five wkts, 15.3 overs) 85

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-2, 3-8, 4-76, 5-76.

DID NOT BAT: R.A. Jadeja, R. Ashwin, J.J. Bumrah, A. Nehra.

BOWLING: Mohammad Amir 4-0-18-3 (6w); Mohammad Sami 4-0-16-2; Mohammad Irfan 4-0-16-0 (1nb, 1w); Wahab Riaz 3.3-0-31-0 (1nb, 1w).

RESULT: India won by five wickets.

UMPIRES: R.S.A. Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka) and Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid (Bangladesh).

TV UMPIRE: Enamul Haque (Bangladesh).

MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Virat Kohli.

Published in Dawn, February 29th, 2016