Pakistan captain Babar Azam said on Sunday the team’s batting let them down at the Twenty20 World Cup and apologised to fans for failing to reach the Super Eight stage.
Pakistan fell to the tournament’s biggest upset when the United States, a tier-two member of the game, beat the 2009 champions via Super Over. Defeat by arch-rivals India then left Babar’s side with a mountain to climb to advance.
India and the US bagged the two Super Eight slots from Group A while Pakistan finished third after Sunday’s laboured three-wicket victory against Ireland.
“Thank you so much for supporting us, and sorry for that performance...,” Babar said after the match in Florida.m “I know the fans and the team are saddened by this. It is not any one player’s fault. We all made a mistake.”
Babar had stepped down as captain of all three formats after Pakistan failed to make the knockout stage of the 50-overs World Cup in India last year, but was reinstated as white-ball skipper ahead of the 20-overs showpiece in the US and West Indies.
Amid sub-par performances at the tournament, talk of rifts within the camp surfaced, while Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief promised “major surgery” on the team after their exit was confirmed last week.
“There are 11 players and each of them has a role,” Babar also admitted. “I cannot play in every player’s place. 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. It’s the fault of all the 15 players. We didn’t execute. We will sit and talk about it.”
While Babar’s position as captain is sure to face some scrutiny, the skipper suggested he was not in a position to decide whether he would continue in that role going forward. “I have not thought about it (yet),” Babar said.
“When I go back (to Pakistan), we will discuss all the things that happened here. When they gave (the captaincy) back to me, it was the (PBC’s) decision. The decision is theirs.”
While Babar took responsibility, he noted that his entire squad needs to focus on being better in the moments that matter.
Pakistan’s batting was a huge disappointment as they failed to make the most of the powerplay overs and could not get partnerships established. “The pitches here helped the fast bowlers a little but I think overall our batting did not click,” said Babar. “We lost two crucial matches even when we were in charge.”
All-rounder Imad Wasim has said the team needed a complete reset of their approach to white-ball cricket and Babar agreed.
“Every player has to think, because cricket has become very fast. With modern cricket, you must have game awareness,” he said.
“You know that the strike rate here is (low)... I think it’s about game awareness and common sense.”