Adelaide: Disappointed Pakistan captain Misbah-Ul-Haq blamed batting failure for his team’s ouster from the World Cup following a six-wicket defeat against Australia in the quarter-final in Adelaide yesterday.

Misbah-Ul-Haq

Pakistan were bowled out for a below-par 213 in the final over after being well set at 97-2 — a trend Misbah said had prevailed throughout the World Cup. “I think we failed as a batting unit in the whole tournament,” said Misbah, whose dismissal after scoring 34 derailed Pakistan’s innings.

Josh Hazlewood took 4-35 while Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell took two wickets apiece as Pakistan never recovered on a batting-friendly Adelaide Oval pitch.

“Batting has been a problem for the last two, three years as we are not up to the international standards. Fielding is another aspect we need to improve to compete at international level but it comes with fitness and we are not there. If we don’t get there we will suffer in future.”