Pakistan coach Azhar Mahmood reveals loss to India dented more to the team than USA

Pakistan Team's Assistant Coach Azhar Mahmood has said that the whole team is responsible for their poor show in ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and they can't blame any individual player for the same. Azhar Mahmood also said the team will still try to bounce back with their performance in the forthcoming matches. 

Pakistan, led by Babar Azam, has already lost two games out of two in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Pakistan lost to the United States in their opening game, which came as a big shock for the cricket fraternity. The USA has participated in the T20 World Cup for the first time in history. 

Later, Pakistan also lost their next game against India. The Babar Azam & Co. failed to chase down a tiny 120-run target against India. They could only reach 113-7 till the final delivery as Team India made a stunning comeback in bowling to outplay the Men-in-Green by 6 runs. 

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We lost as a team and can't blame individuals: Azhar Mahmood 

Speaking about Pakistan's back-to-back defeats in ICC T20 World Cup 2024, former player and current assistant coach Azhar Mahmood blamed the entire team and management for the team's miserable show. 

"Our shot selection wasn't right, which led to a run rate of 10. We were playing well until the 15th over. We lost as a team and can't blame individuals", the 49-year-old said. 

"The responsibility of failure lies with the entire management, we all have made mistakes. If a player starts doubting their ability, it becomes very difficult. If we play with confidence in ourselves, it will prove everyone wrong," the former bowling all-rounder further added. 

Losing against India was more disheartening: Mahmood 

Azhar Mahmood also feels that losing against India was more disheartening for Pakistan than losing against the USA. He also informed me that the team's morale is down at the moment but they can still bounce back. 

"After two defeats, everyone is quite disheartened. Losing against India is more disappointing than a defeat against the USA. At the moment, everyone's morale in the team is down, it's necessary to lift it as we can still bounce back and we won't lose hope until it's over", concluded Azhar Mahmood, who represented Pakistan from 1996 to 2007. 

Notably, Pakistan vs USA was a close-fought encounter that ended in a tie and the USA emerged champions in the super over. However, Pakistan completely failed with the bat against India and could not chase a mere 120-run target. 

In both games, Pakistan batters failed to take charge as a unit. Their middle-order batters have completely failed to follow up the good starts. For instance, Babar Azam hit 44 runs in the first match against the USA but the next batters in line could not add enough runs on the board. Pakistan reached 159-7 in the end. 

In the next match against India, Mohammad Rizwan gave a decent start with his 31 runs but no other batters could even smash more than 15 runs and take charge of the chase. 

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Pakistan is on the verge of getting snubbed from the T20 WC after the Group Stage 

With 2 defeats in 2 games, Pakistan is on the verge of getting snubbed from the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 after the Group Stage. They have to play two more games against Canada and Ireland.

However, even if they win both encounters, there is no guarantee that Pakistan will qualify for the Super 8 round. Only the top two teams from each group will enter the next round. The US and India have already won 2 games each out of 2.