Pakistan’s prolific batter Babar Azam opened up on his side’s historic defeat to Afghanistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 fixture at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium.
Sharing his thoughts on the loss in an interview, Babar Azam expressed how painful that defeat was for him as a person and as a captain of his side.
He said that it was disappointing for the team to lose the all important match, “I was in so much pain because our performance was not up to the mark and the other side played good cricket.”
Applauding the Afghan batters, Babar Azam said that the target Pakistan set was enough however their batters batted well and it seemed as taking wickets were impossible.
The skipper further said that he could not sleep the entire night because of the pain of loss against Afghanistan however “every day is not a good day and its a part of life”, he added.
Pakistan lost to Afghanistan for the first time in the 50-over format as they were beaten in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 fixture by eight wickets.
Babar Azam-led Green Shirts scored 282-7 thanks to captain Babar Azam (74) and opening batter Abdullah Shafique’s (52) half-centuries. Vice Captain Shadab Khan and batting all-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed chipped in with handy knocks of 40 each.
Afghanistan completed the run chase in 49 overs thanks to fifties by Ibrahim Zadran (87), Rahmat Shah (77) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65).
Babar Azam, in the post-match presentation, blamed his side’s bowling and fielding woes for the side’s heavy defeat. He said a team would never win if they failed in either batting, bowling and fielding departments.
The right-handed batter added that his team put on an overall disappointing performance. He lamented about his bowlers not pitching at the right line and length and failing to pressurize batters.
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