Tauranga, Mar 11 (IANS): Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof on Friday termed her team's inability to chase 224 against South Africa as 'unfortunate'. In a thrilling match at the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup at Bay Oval, it was a case of so close yet so far for Pakistan, who panicked at the far end of the chase to fall short by six runs.

"We could have won, but it's unfortunate that we couldn't cross the line. We had some good partnerships in the middle and if one of the set batters would have gone on till the end, I think it would have finished the game for us," said Bismah in the post-match virtual press conference.

Bismah had no qualms in admitting that the heart-breaking loss will hurt Pakistan a lot. "Definitely it will hurt us and we had that belief that we can do it and I think there are many positives. We can take it up for the next game -- especially in batting with good partnerships and we have played deep. But yes, the result was not in our favour, so definitely it will hurt us."

Bismah was in praise of leg-spinner Ghulam Fatima, who took three wickets for 52 runs in her nine overs. The match against South Africa was also Fatima's comeback in international cricket after 2018. Despite conceding the most runs by a Pakistan bowler, Fatima had dismissed the most crucial batters in South Africa's line-up at critical junctures in the middle overs.

"I think she bowled really well and got wickets in the middle and put pressure on the South African batters. I think she has improved and is more confident and she wants to perform in challenging situations. I liked that in her -- that she's up for the challenge and wanted to take wickets."

Bismah signed off by saying Pakistan's mindset from now onwards will be to win every game in the tournament. With a hat-trick of losses, Pakistan are at the bottom of the points table and are yet to register a win.

"From today, we can find positives that we can take and move forward and we have matches. Our next match (is) against Bangladesh (on Monday) -- we can look forward to that, and we're trying to win every match now in the tournament."