Pakistan skipper reacts to shocking loss against USA at T20 World Cup 2024: ‘We should have defended the total’

Pakistan suffered a shock defeat at the hands of hosts USA at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas. In a closely-fought contest, the Men in Green suffered a humiliating 5-run defeat to the hosts in their opening match.

Soon after the match, Pakistan captain Babar Azam came down heavily on the Pakistan bowlers for not sticking to their lines and lengths. Azam also stated that the total of 159 should have been defended given their bowling prowess.

Speaking to the presentors after the match, Babar said, “Even in the second innings, I think we also got help, but we were not up to the mark in terms of our bowling areas. We lacked in that in the first ten overs. We came back after that but they had already taken the momentum. But given the bowlers we have, we should have defended that total. On this pitch, I think it was a defendable total for our bowling.”

“We are better than that in the bowling. We did not take wickets in the first six overs. In the middle overs, if your spinner is not taking wickets, then the pressure is on you. After ten overs, we did come back but I think the way they finished game in the Super Over, the credit goes to the US team.” the Pakistani skipper added.

Asked to bat first, Pakistan got off to a shaky start, losing the crucial wickets of Usman Khan, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman in the first 6 overs. However, Shadab Khan and skipper Babar Azam then put on a partnership that helped Pakistan post a respectable total. But the USA batsmen, led from the front by skipper Monank Patel, chased down Pakistan’s total and took the match to the super overs.

USA’s Aaron Jones got the better of Mohammed Amir in the super over, taking 18 runs off six balls. In reply, Pakistan could only score 13 runs in their 6 balls and eventually lost the match by 5 runs.