Dallas: Pakistan captain Babar Azam was disappointed with all aspects of his team’s performance as they slumped to a shock loss to USA at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup following a dramatic Super Over.
Babar has opened up on the extent of his team’s underperformance in Thursday’s T20 World Cup loss to USA, acknowledging that his side were “not playing good in all three departments”.
According to Babar, Pakistan were off the mark in the Powerplay, slow through the middle overs and disappointing at the death with the bat.
Then with the ball they didn’t execute early plans with pace on, and failed to take wickets with spin through the middle overs.
Plans weren’t executed in the Super Over, fielding was sub-par, and the players didn’t assess conditions well enough.
It doesn’t get much more damning than that, an ICC report said.
“I am upset,” Babar said in his post-match media conference, following the Super Over loss in Dallas.
“We are not playing good in all three departments and we are better than that. In the bowling in the first six overs we were not taking wickets, in the middle overs the spinners are not taking wickets and then there’s pressure on us," he said.
“After ten overs we knew we would come back, but I thought they way they finished the game and in the Super Overs, I think credit to the USA team,” Babar said.
Babar top-scored with 44 from 43 balls on the day, helping his side rebuild after a loss of three wickets in the Powerplay. But he acknowledged that there was only one partnership in the batting performance that even came close to the plan.
“In the first six overs while batting, we couldn't capitalise,” he said. “After ten overs we had momentum, but again we lost too many wickets and the momentum was gone."
“So I think as a batting unit we need to step up in the middle overs and in the end,” Babar said.
Overall the team didn’t adjust to the conditions at the Grand Prairie Stadium, according to the skipper.
“There was moisture in the pitch, it was two-paced. As professionals, we had to assess conditions better,” Babar said.
USA struck a boundary off the final ball of the regular overs to take the match to a Super Over, where Mohammad Amir leaked 18 runs, with wides and a string of overthrows seeing Pakistan concede a number of needless extras.
But on that point, the Pakistan captain was keen to credit USA’s batters, Aaron Jones and Harmeet Singh, for their aggressive running between the wickets.
“He (Amir) is an experienced bowler, he knows how to bowl and we are just trying to field the ball. But I think the US batsmen were a bit smart, when the ball was coming to the keeper he was running. So I think that was a plus point for the batters in the Super Over,” Babar said.
Pakistan will return to action in a high-profile clash with India in New York on Sunday. And the Pakistan captain says that the death-over strategy with the ball for that crunch match will not
change despite Thursday’s loss.
“The plan is simple: We try to hit yorkers and we are not changing any plans because the ball is reversing and our bowlers are very accurate, so our play will not be any different,” he said.
Two teams will qualify from Group A for the Super 8 stage of the tournament, with Ireland and Canada making up the rest of the five-team pool.
Whether Pakistan will be one of those pair who progress is now hanging in the balance.