Dallas, June 7 : Stunned by a Super Over defeat to the USA in their T20 World Cup opener, Pakistan captain Babar Azam admitted his team took the game “a little lightly” and failed to perform in any department.
Co-hosts USA pulled off a major upset, edging out former champions and last edition’s finalists Pakistan in the Super Over on Thursday. The defeat served as a stark reminder of Pakistan’s unpredictability, reminiscent of their losses to Zimbabwe in the last T20 World Cup in Australia and Ireland during a recent bilateral series.
“Whenever you enter a tournament, you aim for the best preparation. But there’s a certain mindset when facing associate nations; you tend to relax a bit, take things lightly,” Babar said in the post-match press conference. “If you don’t execute your plan against any team, they’ll beat you. We failed to execute our plans as a team despite good preparation.”
The skipper was critical of his team’s overall performance, admitting they were outplayed by the debutants. “I’m upset. We didn’t perform well in all three departments.”
Pakistan struggled early, reeling at 26/3 before Babar and Shadab Khan scored 63 runs in six overs. However, Nosthush Kenjige’s back-to-back wickets of Shadab and Azam Khan in the 13th over, followed by Babar’s dismissal a couple of overs later, halted their momentum. “We didn’t capitalize properly in the first six overs, and after gaining momentum post the 10th over, we lost too many wickets,” Babar noted. “As a batting unit, we need to step up in the middle and towards the end.”
Pakistan’s bowling, usually their strong suit, also faltered. Spinners Shadab and Iftikhar Ahmed conceded 37 runs in four overs. “We are better than that in bowling. We didn’t take wickets in the first six overs, and our spinners couldn’t take wickets in the middle overs, putting pressure on us,” Babar said. “We did come back after 10 overs, but credit goes to the US team for finishing the game in the Super Over.”
Pakistan now faces arch-rivals India on Sunday.
