Mohali, March 30: The odds were against Pakistan to make it this far in the tournament but captain Shahid Afridi did well to lead his teams right up to the semi-finals. Though he went wicketless in the big game against India, Afridi is the highest wicket-taker in the World Cup so far. Post-match he spoke to the media about his team’s World Cup journey.

Excerpts from the interaction

On the semi-final

I think first of all I want to congratulate the Indian cricket team and [the] Indian nation for the great victory and wish them well [for] the final as well. But I think we played well in this whole competition, the boys really played well, [they’ve] really done a great job and I [am] proud [to be the] captain of these guys.

On Wahab Riaz’s effort to get them back in the game after India got off to a flying start

I think he really bowled well. At that stage we needed a wicket and I think after we got [Virender] Sehwag, we thought maybe it’s the right time to put some pressure on. But I thought Sachin [Tendulkar] was lucky as well and we missed some opportunities at that stage. I think they played better then us.

On whether he thought 260 could be chased

Yes, but I think we didn’t build partnerships, we played some irresponsible shots on that stage. I think a partnership was very crucial at that stage.

On why he didn’t take the Batting Powerplay earlier in the innings

I think we tried to play two or three overs [out]. Like Bhajji [Harbhajan Singh] had two overs left so we tried to finish [those] and after two or three overs, we [were] going to take the Powerplay. We tried to do it as close as we could.

On having exceeded many people’s expectations in the tournament

Thank you so much and I want to say sorry to my nation. We tried our level best but I hope everyone [has] enjoyed [our performance].