IND vs PAK: Unfortunately Mohammad Nawaz Bowled A No-ball And A Wide, And Was Disappointed With That – Babar Azam

Pakistan National Cricket Team captain Babar Azam came to the defence of spinner Mohammad Nawaz after the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 India-Pakistan clash, saying that “bowling under pressure, under such high intensity, it is not easy.”

In the final over of the thrilling India-Pakistan World Cup match, Team India needed 16 runs to seal the victory and spinner Mohammad Nawaz was bowling the over. He dismissed Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik in the final over, but a waist-high no-ball and a couple of wides proved costly and Pakistan lost the match by 4 wickets.

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At the post-match press conference, Babar Azam hailed the Pakistan bowlers for their brilliant performance in the first 10 overs. He also mentioned that the outstanding partnership between Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya shifted the momentum towards India.

He said: “Early on, what the bowlers did in the first 10 overs was outstanding. We have to give credit to Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli for the way they finished the match, and the way they shifted the momentum towards India. 

Babar Azam further spoke about his decision to hand the last over to Mohammad Nawaz, saying that he wanted to break the Kohli-Hardik partnership with his pacers at the MCG. He also said that the final over setback was a learning experience for Nawaz.

“Basically we planned to get our main bowler there because we wanted a wicket. Because of the way the partnership was building, I felt I could build pressure by bringing on our main bowler,” Babar said at the press conference on Sunday.

“If you see, even the last over was tight and it went down to the last ball. You also have to give credit to him [Nawaz], bowling under pressure, under such high intensity, it is not easy. This will also be a learning experience for him. Whenever he faces such situations in the future, he’ll try to do better.

“We could have bowled him earlier but we wanted to take the match deep. There was a possibility that they could have taken the charge against his spin earlier and at that stage, we felt taking a wicket would have been better.

“But they played sensibly, they knew that we had an over left of a spinner. Unfortunately, he bowled a no-ball and a wide, and was disappointed with that,” the Pakistan captain added.

Coming back after a while, returning from an injury, the way he bowled surprised me – Babar Azam on Shaheen Shah Afridi

Pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi had an ordinary performance with the ball in the high-voltage game against India as he went wicketless and conceded 34 runs. Also, in the 18th over of the match, Afridi conceded 17 runs, with Kohli striking three fours off the pacer. While talking about Afridi, Babar said that he was surprised by the young pacer’s bowling in the match.

“No, nothing like that,” said Babar when asked if Afridi was partly to blame for the loss.

“Coming back after a while, returning from an injury, the way he bowled surprised me. The way he showed his aggression, and the way he bowled – he did not get wickets but it takes a bit of time for a bowler to adjust when he returns after a while.”

Babar Azam heaped praise on the modern-day batting great Virat Kohli for batting exceptionally well under pressure and taking India past the finish line.

“Whenever Pakistan-India play matches, there is always extra pressure and you have to overcome it as much as possible. This is why he [Kohli] is a big player. The pressure was on him early on but he overcame that and the way he built his innings and the partnership, according to me that changed the match.

“I’ve see him struggle on occasions but the way he has come back and played a big innings, that would have increased his confidence in a big way. Whenever you win such matches, the individual gets big confidence and the mental level goes up,” he said.

Babar further said that they will learn from the mistakes they committed in the game against India and will bounce back strong. He said:

 “We are confident and we will learn from this. there were some good things and some mistakes too. We’ll sit down and talk about this. The tournament has only started and there is a long way to go in the tournament. So the sooner we forget it, it’ll be better for us. We have back to back matches and we’ll be prepared for them.”

Also Read: IND vs PAK: “Our Bowlers Bowled Really Well; All Credit Goes To Virat Kohli And Hardik Pandya” – Babar Azam After Losing The Match Against India