The thing about batting powerplay is, as a batting side you always feel that you can chase down anything in the region of 90-120 in the last 10 overs provided you have 5 or 6 wickets in hand
So you have to either push the RRR to 9+ during the last 10 overs or reduce your opponents to 6 or 7 down, otherwise you are really struggling
In the Champions Trophy SF clash against NZ, I remember Pakistan were still in the contest till about the 43rd over despite making a modest 230 odd in their 50 overs. But the batting powerplay suddenly changed the equation and NZ just ran away with the game, Rana spoiling the good work of the earlier bowlers
The bottomline is picking up wickets at regular intervals in ODIs is as crucial as restricting the rate of scoring
Just hope Pakistan learned something from the 1st game. Batsmen who were well-set - Kamran Akmal, Umer Akmal, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik - all gifted their wickets to Australia by playing needless shots. They cannot just blame Younus Khan for their downfall. Good batsmen should be able to accelerate by milking the bowlers and hitting the odd 4 every now and then. 300+ looked gettable at one stage
Hope to see greater patience and application from our batsmen in the second game