Shoaib bullish ahead of series decider
Pakistan's Shoaib Malik saw room for improvement in the second one-day international, but is bullish ahead of the decider with Zimbabwe.
Shoaib Malik has warned Zimbabwe that Pakistan will "come back hard" in Monday's one-day international decider at Harare Sports Club on Monday following their controversial defeat on Saturday.
Pakistan were 256-8 in reply to the hosts' 276-6 in the second ODI at the same venue when the umpires brought the players off due to bad light.
They were unable to return, so Zimbabwe levelled the series at 1-1 with a five-run Duckworth-Lewis victory - much to the frustration of Pakistan.
Pakistan looked to be facing a thrashing when they collapsed to 76-6 in their run chase, after Chamu Chibhabha's 90 and a brisk 67 from Elton Chigumbura helped Zimbabwe post a challenging target.
However, a stand of 111 between Aamer Yamin (62) and Shoaib (96 not out) ensured the stage was set for tight finish, until the game was brought to a premature end.
Shoaib is determined to make up for that disappointment when the two sides meet for a showdown back at the Harare Sports Club.
He said: "We started off well bowling as a unit, but obviously we must also give credit to the Zimbabwean batsmen, especially Chibhabha and Chigumbura. Especially Chigumbura and the way he batted at the end.
"There are areas of improvement for us, which we'll look at and come back hard."
Shoaib also defended Pakistan's top-order batsman, who fell cheaply playing attacking strokes.
"The way cricket is going I think you have to play aggressive cricket, and that's what we even talked about in our meeting before this game. Sometimes you lose wickets, sometimes you score runs. It's part of the game," he added.
Zimbabwe coach Dav Whatmore took great heart from the manner in which his side levelled the series.
"When it all clicks, it's great. Before the game started we had a lot negativity towards us, and in some ways it was justified, in other ways I'm not sure," he said.
"But to turn it around in the way we did with the bat in that first half was just a fantastic effort given the situation that the boys were in at the start of the day.
"Losing the toss, being asked to bat, and to perform like that and get the score that we did was really heartening."