Babar Azam, the captain of the Pakistan cricket team, shared his thoughts after Pakistan’s 62-run loss to Australia at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, India.
According to Babar, Pakistan’s fielding and bowling performance in the first 34 overs of the game were the key factors in their loss. He also highlighted a dropped catch of David Warner as a missed opportunity.
“The first 34 overs in the bowling and fielding cost us. We dropped Warner, and players like him tend to make the most of such opportunities. Credit to our fast bowlers and spinners for making a comeback in the last 15 overs, hitting their lengths and the stumps,” Azam mentioned during the post-match ceremony.
Babar Azam also discussed the issues in Pakistan’s batting, emphasizing that the team failed to establish significant partnerships during their innings.
“The message to the batters was that we can chase this total. We’ve done it before, and the ball comes well under the lights. We started well with a solid opening partnership. We had some small partnerships, but we needed bigger ones in the middle. In all honesty, we need to perform better in the first ten overs with the ball and build strong partnerships in the middle with the bat,” he added.
Australia set a challenging target of 368 runs for Pakistan. Pakistan made a strong start with a 134-run partnership between their openers, Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique. However, after losing both openers, Pakistan needed substantial partnerships in the middle order to stay competitive. Unfortunately, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals, and despite Iftikhar Ahmed’s efforts, they were bowled out for 305 runs in 45.3 overs.
Australia, batting first, posted a total of 367 runs, which was the highest total ever scored against Pakistan in a World Cup match. Shaheen Afridi was the standout bowler for Pakistan, taking five wickets in the match, achieving his second World Cup five-wicket haul.
