Babar Azam opens up on captaincy, disappointing T20 World Cup exit

Star Pakistani batter Babar Azam opened up on the captaincy and disappointing T20 World Cup 2024 campaign of the Pakistani team.

Addressing a post-match press conference, Pakistan captain Babar Azam said the team’s batting let them down at the Twenty20 World Cup and apologized to fans for failing to reach the Super Eight stage.

Pakistan fell to the tournament’s biggest upset when the United States, a tier-two member of the game, beat the 2009 champions via Super Over. Defeat by arch-rivals India then left Babar’s side with a mountain to climb to advance.

India and the U.S. bagged the two Super Eight slots from Group A while Pakistan finished third after Sunday’s laboured three-wicket victory against Ireland.

“Thank you so much for supporting us, and sorry for that performance…,” Babar said after the match in Florida.

READ: T20 World Cup 2024: Pakistan close out on a winning note

“I know the fans and the team are saddened by this. It is not any one player’s fault. We all made a mistake.”

Babar had stepped down as captain of all three formats after Pakistan failed to make the knockout stage of the 50-overs World Cup in India last year, but was reinstated as white-ball skipper ahead of the 20-overs showpiece in the U.S. and West Indies.

Amid sub-par performances at the tournament, talk of rifts within the camp surfaced, while Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief promised “major surgery” on the team after their exit was confirmed last week.

Pakistan’s batting was a huge disappointment as they failed to make the most of the powerplay overs and could not get partnerships established.

“The pitches here helped the fast bowlers a little but I think overall our batting did not click,” said Babar.

“We lost two crucial matches even when we were in charge.”

All-rounder Imad Wasim has said the team needed a complete reset of their approach to white-ball cricket and Babar agreed.

“Every player has to think, because cricket has become very fast. With modern cricket, you must have game awareness,” he said.

“You know that the strike rate here is (low)… I think it’s about game awareness and common sense.”

The Green Shirts were knocked out of the group stage of the marquee event for the first time due to embarrassing losses against the United States of America (USA) and India.

They defeated Canada to maintain their Super 8s hopes, but the crucial match between the USA and Ireland was rained out, leading to the USA’s qualification for the next round.

Babar Azam’s side then registered a consolation victory over Ireland in their last match, with the star batter leading the run-chase with an unbeaten 32 off 34 deliveries.