Babar Azam-led Pakistan stumbled to a five-wicket defeat against England in the T20 World Cup final on Sunday and their dream of winning the tournament for the second time was over. After the match, the likes of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were criticised for their conservative approach inside the powerplay, and the slow start did not pay off as the batters kept on losing wickets at the death and keeping wickets in hand for the final overs did not bear the desired result.
As a matter of fact, both India and Pakistan were criticised throughout the World Cup for their ‘slow starts’ in the powerplays. On the other hand, England played with a completely different philosophy as every batter went after the bowlers from the get-go.
So, it is no surprise that after the defeat against England, Babar was asked about the approach with which India and Pakistan play the shortest format.
Here is what the journalist asked Babar during a post-match press conference: “Babar, India or Pakistan’s philosophy of playing T20 Cricket is to play in one day style. You have to keep the wicket and hit it at the end. England has continuously shown to two big Asian teams how T20 cricket has changed. Are these kinds of surprises necessary for a change? Whether you talk about Pakistan or India, do you feel that you get a strong message when you come to such tournaments?”
To this question, Babar rather gave a guarded response, saying situations dictate the style of play, and every team plays according to their own plans.
“It depends on the situation. What is the demand from you and after that you plan. Every team has its own plans and we stuck to our plan. Sometimes we are not able to give 100% but we try not to repeat our mistakes. But this is a part of the game. Sometimes you do well and sometimes you don’t,” said Babar.
“This is the beauty of cricket. Every day is different. Everyone has their own mindset. I utilize it in the first six overs. Both teams struggled after the first six overs,” he stated further.
Pakistan just posted 137 runs in 20 overs in the final, and it was Ben Stokes who spearheaded the chase for England. As a result, the Three Lions won the tournament for the second time, having previously won it in 2010.
Topics mentioned in this article
