Misbah: We didn't handle the pressure

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq conceded a general lack of focus led to Wednesday's one-run defeat to South Africa in the first ODI at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq conceded a general lack of focus led to Wednesday's one-run defeat to South Africa in the first ODI at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Seven wickets between spinners Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi saw the Proteas' choice to bat first after winning the toss amount to a mere 183 all out in 49.5 overs.

The visiting attack, however, put in a sterling effort to restrict the Pakistanis to insufficient 182 all out in 46.3 overs.

All-rounder Wayne Parnell was named Man of the Match, after a fine half-century and three key wickets. Leg-spinner Imran Tahir, meanwhile, marked a successful return to the limited-overs XI with a fine haul of three for 45.

'It was really disappointing, the way we finished this game. We didn't handle the pressure well and we need to learn to finish the game quickly. Anything can happen in cricket and we had won a close game here against Sri Lanka," rued Misbah.

We need to keep our focus until the last run. Our bowlers bowled well and our spinners, Afridi and Ajmal bowled brilliantly. We need to quickly forget about this game and focus on the next match."

The second ODI will get underway at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

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