“We didn’t play as a team”: Babar Azam on Pakistan’s T20 World Cup campaign

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam rued the mistakes his side made against India and USA in its earlier Group A matches, as they finished their T20 World Cup campaign with a consolation three-wicket win over Ireland at the Central Broward Park in Lauderhill. Shaheen Afridi and Imad Wasim took 3 wickets each as Pakistan restricted Ireland to 106/9 in 20 overs. Babar remained unbeaten on 32 and saw his side home as Pakistan’s journey in the T20 World Cup concluded with a 3-wicket win over Ireland.

“I think with the bowling, conditions suited our bowlers. But in batting we made few mistakes in the matches against the USA and India. When you lose wickets, the pressure is on you,” said Babar in the post-match presentation ceremony.

“Sir, I’ve said this before that everyone is disheartened (because of our performance). We didn’t play as a team. This is not because of an individual as we lost as a team. It’s not just the captain. I cannot play for every player as there are 11 players. They are in the World Cup because each player has an assigned role. The execution wasn’t there and we have to sit down and work out what needs to be done. I accept that we didn’t play as a team,” he added.

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After being eliminated from the tournament thanks to losses against USA and India, Pakistan won their remaining 2 matches against Canada and Ireland to end up third on Group A with 4 points. Babar was happy that his side finished the campaign on a positive note.

“Yes we finished well. We took early wickets with the ball. But with the bat, we didn’t finish well. We lost back-to-back wickets, but got over the line in the end,” said Babar.