"Can't play for everyone, we didn't play as a team"- Babar Azam accuses his teammates of disturbing Unity

Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam has come forward to address the team's performance and defend his leadership after their unexpected early exit from the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Pakistan failed to advance to the Super 8 stage of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024, thanks to the team’s overall lackluster performance in the tournament.

Speaking at a post-match press conference after the PAK vs IRE game, Azam emphasized that the failure was collective and not the result of any individual's shortcomings. He highlighted that the team did not function cohesively, which led to their lackluster performance in the T20 World Cup 2024.

Babar Azam defends captaincy after Pakistan's ICC T20 World Cup 2024 exit

Defending his captaincy in the T20 World Cup 2024, the right-handed batter has stressed that each player of the 11-member team was handed a specific role, so people can’t expect the captain to compensate for the failures of others, saying it was everyone’s fault, not just his as captain.

Babar Azam said in a post-match press conference: “Sir, as I have said earlier, everyone is sad, everyone is disheartened because of our performance. We did not play well as a team. It’s not that we lost because of one person. As a team, we lost. As a team, we could not click."

"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. I think we as a team have not been able to apply, follow and finish things. We have to settle down and accept that we didn't play well as a team.”

🗣️ Babar Azam: "We lost not because of one person, but as a team. As a captain, I can't play in place of every player." pic.twitter.com/f9fcJlWSQZ

— CricWick (@CricWick) June 16, 2024

Azam acknowledged the Pakistan cricket team's inability to apply strategies, follow plans, and execute effectively during Group A matches of the tournament. He pointed out that the team’s batting was particularly underwhelming, failing to perform in crucial matches against the USA and India.

The captain mentioned that while the bowlers adapted well to the conditions, the batters struggled, losing wickets at critical junctures, which posed pressure on the team and eventually led them to lose the games. He openly said that Pakistan’s batting did not rise to the occasion, leading to their early exit from the T20 World Cup 2024.

We did not play well as a team in T20 World Cup 2024: Babar Azam

Accepting that they did not play well as a team, Babar mentioned that Pakistan’s journey in the T20 World Cup 2024 was a lesson in the importance of teamwork and consistency while stressing the importance of understanding their shortcomings and working on them to perform better in future tournaments.

Babar signed off by saying, “I think with the bowling, conditions suited our bowlers. But in batting, we made a few mistakes in the matches against the USA and India. When you lose wickets, the pressure is on you. Sometimes we did well with our bowling but we did not do well in batting."

"The pitches here – you saw that they helped the fast bowlers a little. But I think our batting did not click. The execution wasn't there and we had to sit down and work out what needed to be done. I accept that we didn't play well as a team.”

In the end, Babar stressed that if he had to leave the captaincy for Pakistan’s failure at the T20 World Cup 2024, he would openly announce it as it was PCB’s call to reinstate him as captain.