Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali rued his team's bitter defeat in the first Test against England in Manchester by three wickets, acknowledging that the visitors were one knock out punch short at the end. Azhar, however, also lauded the duo of Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes for taking the game away with their positivity under immense pressure.
Having set up a target of 277, Pakistan had England struggling at 117/5, one wicket shy of opening up an end. But Buttler (75) and Woakes (84*) didn't bog down by the weight of the situation and stitched a magnificent sixth-wicket stand of 139 runs to take England to victory.
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"We were sure we'd wrap it up if one more wicket fell," Azhar told reporters after going down 1-0 in the three-match series.
"But they (Buttler and Woakes) attacked from the off and snatched the game away from us. Sometimes you just have to give credit to the opposition."
"We were in control of the game; we were one punch away from finishing the game off, but they came and dominated us during that period."
The visiting team had taken a 107-run lead after dismissing England for 219 in the first half, having posted 326 themselves. But a collapse in the third innings for just 169 meant that the home team winning was never out of the equation despite a strenuous chase.
In the chase, Pakistan's inexperienced pace battery - Shaheen Afridi (1/61), Naseem Shah (1/45) and Mohammad Abbas (1/36) - bowled its heart out, but couldn't really produce a spell or two that would've taken Pakistan through.
And while Yasir Shah did pick up four wickets (4/99), Azhar the skipper would've definitely wanted more control from his lead spinner, who went at 3.30 runs per over on a deteriorating track.
Azhar, though, backed his troops to regroup quickly and win the next Test, starting August 13 in Southampton.
"It's disappointing but not over yet, there are still two Tests to go," he said.
"There (are) a lot of positives from this game, we outplayed England on most parts of this Test match."
"I wouldn't say we lost the match in (our) second innings, but we missed a chance to knock England out of the game there," Azhar concluded.
(Inputs from AFP)
