Colombo, Sep 30: Pakistan’s batting collapse led to a loss against India and has kept the race for a semi-finals berth in Group 2 open. Captain Mohammad Hafeez appreciated Virat Kohli’s knock, which took the game away from Pakistan, while speaking after the match. Hafeez expressed hope that his team can win their next Super Eights tie against Australia and make it to the next level.

Excerpts from his post-match interview:

On the match

We couldn’t set [a good] total, to be honest. We lost wickets at regular intervals. The batsmen couldn’t get going and there was no partnership. There was one partnership between Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal. We were looking to get to a score of 150-plus, but we couldn’t do that.

On whether there is mental block given that Pakistan has never won against India in World Cup matches

No, not really. They played well; there is no doubt about that. Today’s was a show won by Virat Kohli. The way he batted on this track [was very good]. It was difficult to bat on. The ball was not coming on to the bat, but he played an excellent innings for India. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the total that we wanted.

On his field setting, which saw him spread the fielders

We wanted to win the game, no doubt. But the way Virat was batting we thought if we could get him out [and] that will put pressure on the rest of the batsmen; but unfortunately we couldn’t do that. Our bowlers really tried their best but in the end Virat was excellent tonight.

On Pakistan’s fielding

Fielding is an area where we need to show more energy on the ground, but unfortunately a couple of catches weren’t taken today. But that is the way the game of cricket is; sometimes you take catches and sometimes you don’t. But we still have a chance. If we win the game against Australia, then we definitely will stay in the tournament.

On the game against Australia being a must-win match

Yes. All we can do is to work hard and come back in a positive way and hopefully win the game.