Waqar was especially pleased with the performance of Abdul
Razzaq, who scored a stunning unbeaten 109 off 72 balls on Sunday. He said
Razzaq probably “felt under pressure” to help the team out of its poor form.
“For the past 12 or 13 years, he has been a great performer
for Pakistan cricket,” Waqar said of Razzaq.
“He made Pakistan proud and helped them win a lot of games.
It is just unfortunate that Pakistan wasn't really playing well. He probably
felt he was under pressure and played a superb knock.” Pakistan lost both its
Twenty20s in Abu Dhabi and was facing defeat at 136-5 in the second ODI before
Razzaq lifted it to a one-wicket win that leveled the five-match series.
The victory came on the day the team learned they wouldn't
be getting Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir back anytime soon. The
trio are suspended by the ICC over charges of spot fixing and on Sunday the
appeals of Butt and Aamir against provisional suspensions were rejected by the
ICC's code of conduct commission.
Waqar admitted the fixing investigation has been on the
minds of his players but that the victory Sunday has at least given them
something more positive to think about.
“I think we needed this sort of victory pretty badly,” Waqar
said. “It will cover a lot of wounds in terms of what happened in the past.”
Graeme Smith, South Africa's ODI and test captain, who did not play Sunday
because of injury, praised Razzaq for “taking the game away from us” in the end.
He refused to criticize his stand-in, Johan Botha, who is
also South Africa's Twenty20 captain, for his decision-making, though he was
critical of the team's inability to close out the match.
Smith said the loss was a reminder that Pakistan — no matter
the troubles it is facing — can always be a dangerous opponent.
“We know Pakistan can be an unpredictable team and we know
they can be a very dangerous team.
“They proved that in England. They only lost that (ODI)
series 3-2, away from home, during the midst of all the chaos,” he said. “They
have got dangerous cricketers and we need to be at our best. Abdul Razzaq
proved that again last night.”
