BRISBANE: Mohammad Irfan was back to his best as Pakistan had to rely on their bowlers to get their stuttering World Cup campaign back on track after yet another dismal batting performance against Zimbabwe at the Gabba on Sunday.

Fast bowler Irfan, standing a lofty 2.16 metres (7-foot-1-inch) tall, was the pick of the bunch and inflicted a lot of the damage with his career-best figures of 4-30 in the 50-over format.

Zimbabwe were chasing a paltry 236 for their second win of the tournament and a brisk start from their openers would have set them up well with the likes of Hamilton Masakadza, Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams to follow.

But a hostile opening spell from the 32-year-old left-arm paceman pushed Zimbabwe firmly on the backfoot.

“I was concentrating on my line and length when I started. I asked the batsmen to make mistakes which they did,” Irfan told the broadcasters. “Since I was not bowling well in the earlier matches, I had to cut down on my pace to concentrate on my line and length. But now I have got used to [the conditions] so the pace is also increasing.

“With the total we had we could not afford to let them get a good start. The plan was to attack and also keep the runs down.”

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2015

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