PAK vs ENG: Proud To Play For Pakistan And Make The Final, But It Hurts When You Can't Finish It Off – Babar Azam After T20 World Cup Final Defeat

Pakistan National Cricket Team captain Babar Azam has said that he is proud to represent Pakistan and make it to the final of marquee tournaments, but admitted that “it hurts when you can’t finish it off.”

Pakistan National Cricket Team, under the leadership of Babar Azam, recently failed to capture the Asia Cup 2022 title and the T20 World Cup 2022 title. The Men In Green lost against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2022 final in UAE and against England in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 final in Australia.

ICC Teams Rankings | ICC Players Rankings

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

At a post-match press conference after losing the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 final on Sunday, Babar Azam got a little emotional while talking about his team not being able to go past the finish line.

“Definitely, dukh hua hai (we are sad). It hurts when you can’t finish it off in a final, of course. We’re very proud to play for Pakistan and make the final. But it hurts when you can’t finish it off. We couldn’t finish it off in the Asia Cup either, and that does sting. This was a stressful week because we didn’t know we were in or out. But the way we grabbed our opportunity and played our best cricket in four matches in a row, our team deserves credit,” Babar said during the post-match press conference.

We couldn’t finish as we wanted – Babar Azam

Losing the toss and batting first in the World Cup summit clash, Pakistan didn’t perform very well and they only managed to post 137/8 on the board. Shan Masood and Babar Azam were the top-2 performers for the Men In Green in the batting department. However, the total was not at all enough as Ben Stokes’ batting masterclass helped the Three Lions win the match by 5 wickets.

While talking about Pakistan’s batting, Babar Azam said that they lost back-to-back wickets in the middle overs and lost momentum.

“The ball was seaming early on. We wanted to get 45-50 runs in the powerplay but we lost a few wickets. In 11 overs, we were around 85 [84], but the back-to-back wickets that fell in the middle order meant we lost momentum. Especially after Shadab and Shan’s partnership ending with both getting out soon after each other like they did,” Babar added.

“Our middle-order dot-ball ratio was a bit too high because we were in a different situation, trying to build a partnership. We couldn’t do that, and whenever a wicket falls, it takes the new batter 2-3 balls to settle down. That put us on the back foot as a batting unit because we couldn’t finish as we wanted.”

Babar Azam was also impressed with the way the Pakistani bowlers took the game to the final over. He added that the match result might have been different had Shaheen Shah Afridi not gotten injured and bowled his 4 overs.

“The way we fought back and took the game to the final over, you’re left to wonder. Maybe if Shaheen had bowled, things might have been different. But credit to England’s bowling. We were trying to build a partnership, but losing back-to-back wickets puts pressure on you. That pressure remains on you till the 20th over. We were 20 runs or so short with the bat, even though we came back with the ball. After Shaheen’s injury, the game shifted to England’s side,” mentioned Babar.

Also Read: PAK vs ENG: “At Least Let Mohammad Nawaz Bowl If He Is Your Main Player” – Salman Butt Slams Babar Azam’s Captaincy