Published: Oct 28, 2022, 08:34 AM (IST)
Edited: Oct 28, 2022, 08:38 AM (IST)
Perth: Zimbabwe stunned Pakistan in a crucial group game of the T20 World Cup to severely dent their chances of progressing to the semi-finals. Pakistan lost to India in their first game thus they needed to win all their remaining games to move into the top 4. However, the loss against Zimbabwe has made their situation grim. Pakistan now have to depend on other results to make it to the semis.
The equation is very complicated for Pakistan. They need to win all their remaining games and then hope that India win all their matches and South Africa, and Zimbabwe lose at least two matches. The first equation i.e. India winning all games is not an issue but Pakistan would need one of the smaller teams to upset South Africa, which looks very unlikely.
Meanwhile, Pakistan were in command of the game when they restricted Zimbabwe to 129-8 in their 20 overs. However, the batters once again disappointed as Pakistan could only manage 129-8 in their 20 overs thus losing the game by 1 run.
The Pakistan batting has been shambolic in recent times. The team is heavily reliant on Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan and on any given day the two batters fail to perform, the team struggles.
Post the defeat against Zimbabwe, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said that the team will bounce back strong in the next game. “We would have taken 130 at the halfway stage. Very disappointing performance, we are not up to the mark in batting.
We have good batters but both openers got out in the powerplay. When Shadab and Shan were building partnership, unfortunately Shadab got out and then back-to-back wickets that pushed us into pressure situation. First 6 overs, we haven’t used the new ball well but we finished well with the ball. We will sit out, discuss our mistakes and we will train hard and come back strong in our next game.”
Pakistan will next take on Netherlands on Sunday, October 30.
