Imam dismisses criticism of being weak on leg-side

MANCHESTER: Pakistani batsman Imam-ul-Haq has been under criticism for being dismissed on leg-side deliveries, but the opener said this is not his weakness as he has scored several runs on the same sort of balls.

Imam was caught by Alex Carey behind the wicket while attempting to pull a delivery short down the leg side off Pat Cummins

He got out in almost similar fashion in the first match against West Indies.

But, Imam says this is not his weakness.

“I was unlucky that it touched the glove. That particular shot is my strength and I have made many runs playing the same shot. That delivery was meant to be hit for four and I wanted to guide it towards the boundary but was a bit unlucky,” Imam stressed.

“It was just matter of luck, I don’t think this is something which can be termed as my weakness,” he added.

Imam said that he wanted to stay on wicket for long and was frustrated over losing the wicket because he knew that it wouldn’t have been easy for new batsmen.

“I knew that it wouldn’t have been easy for new batsmen. Unfortunately, after my wicket, middle order couldn’t do much and we lost the game,” he said.

“I wanted to stay on the wicket as it is always important for top three batsmen to score runs in ODIs I am disappointed that I couldn’t do what I wanted to,” Imam said after Pakistan’s 41 runs loss in Taunton against Australia.

Imam was, however, hopeful that it is still not finished for Pakistan and the team can bounce back.

“We are professional and making a comeback shouldn’t be difficult for us, we need to leave behind this defeat and give our best in next matches,” Imam concluded.