Never was a bowler more sorely missed than Umar Gul was yesterday by Pakistan against the rampant Australians. The barrage of fours and sixes seemed to be never ending and the only respite for Pakistani fans was the remarkable five wicket maiden bowled by Mohammad Aamer in the twentieth over.

Never was a bowler more sorely missed than Umar Gul was yesterday by Pakistan against the rampant Australians. The barrage of fours and sixes seemed to be never ending and the only respite for Pakistani fans was the remarkable five wicket maiden bowled by Mohammad Aamer in the twentieth over.

Umar Gul speaking to PakPassion.net from Peshawar, cited two dropped catches as key moments during the course of the 34 run defeat in St Lucia.

"Catches win matches, and you simply cannot drop players of the calibre of Shane Watson and David Hussey. The catches that Misbah ul Haq and Salman Butt dropped hit Pakistan very hard. Hussey had only scored a few runs when he was put down by Salman and Watson was not long into his innings when he was dropped by Misbah. Both catches should have been taken and could have entirely changed the course of the match. On flat decks like the one in St Lucia, bowlers need the support of their fielders, but yesterday the support wasn't there. With Watson gone and Hussey back in the pavilion early, Pakistan could have applied some pressure on the Australians".

Hussey who smashed Mohammad Sami for four sixes in one over had only scored five runs when he was dropped on the long off boundary by Salman Butt. The chance was one that any club cricketer would have been expected to take with relative ease, and Hussey made the Pakistani bowlers pay dearly for the lapse, by smashing 53 off 29 deliveries.

Watson had not really looked at his fluent best at the start of the Australian innings when he tried to pull a ball through mid wicket and the ball went low to Misbah ul Haq's left side, but the half chance was not taken and Watson went onto smash 81 runs off 49 deliveries. The unfortunate bowler was once again Mohammad Sami.

Gul who was in magnificent form for Pakistan during last years Twenty/20 World Cup victory felt that Pakistan lacked a "Plan B" against the Australians.

"The plan to open with Hafeez was a good one in my opinion and it's a plan that would have been thought through by the captain and coaches. It was a plan that was clearly designed to stifle dangerous Aussie opening batsman David Warner, who is recognised as being more comfortable against pace, rather than spin. However when Hafeez started to get hit around, then the plan should have been altered straight away. But it seemed to me that there was no alternative plan".

Gul whose yorkers in Twenty/20 cricket are widely recognised as being amongst the best in international cricket also felt that the Pakistani bowlers should have attempted more variation to their bowling in St Lucia.

"The pitch was slow and very good for batting. In those circumstances you have to vary your length, line and pace. I would have expected more bouncers, slow bouncers, quick bouncers, especially after Sami got rid of Warner to a short ball. I was surprised that we didnt see more shorter deliveries. Yorkers were needed, not necassarily on the stumps, but even yorkers outside the off stump which are difficult to put away. Bowling length deliveries was not going to work on that flat batting track. It seemed that the faster the bowl was bowled, the easier it was to hit".

Gul missed out on taking part in the ongoing Twenty/20 World Cup due to a shoulder injury sustained during the pre tournament training camp in Lahore, but he is hopeful that he will make a full and speedy recovery.

"The medics have told me to rest for three weeks and that's exactly what I am doing. No cricket for me at all and it gives me an opportunity to have a rest before future series later this year and to spend some quality time with family and friends. After the three week break, I will get the shoulder re-examined and hopefully I'll get the go ahead to start bowling again".