(Credit PCB)
Azhar Mahmood, the assistant coach of the Pakistan team, emphasized that the collective responsibility lies with the entire team for their underwhelming performance in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, refraining from singling out any individual player for blame. Mahmood also expressed the team’s determination to bounce back in the upcoming matches.
Under the leadership of Babar Azam, Pakistan has suffered defeats in both of their ICC T20 World Cup 2024 matches so far. Their loss to the United States in the opening game came as a significant surprise to the cricketing world, considering it was the USA’s debut appearance in the tournament.
Subsequently, Pakistan faced another setback in their match against India. Despite a modest target of 120 runs, Babar Azam’s team failed to chase it down, finishing at 113-7 by the end of the innings, as Team India staged a remarkable bowling comeback to outplay the Men-in-Green by six runs.
Azhar Mahmood says We lost as a team and can’t blame individuals.
Discussing Pakistan’s consecutive losses in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Azhar Mahmood, a former player turned assistant coach, attributed the team’s dismal performance to both the players and the management, indicating a collective responsibility for the disappointing results.
“Our shot selection wasn’t right, which led to a run rate of 10. We were playing well until the 15th over. We lost as a team and can’t blame individuals”, the 49-year-old said.
“The responsibility of failure lies with the entire management, we all have made mistakes. If a player starts doubting their ability, it becomes very difficult. If we play with confidence in ourselves, it will prove everyone wrong,” the former bowling all-rounder further added.
Azhar Mahmood said Losing against India was more disheartening.
Azhar Mahmood additionally conveyed that the defeat against India was particularly demoralizing for Pakistan compared to their loss against the USA. Despite the current low morale within the team, Mahmood remains optimistic, believing that they still have the potential to make a comeback.
“After two defeats, everyone is quite disheartened. Losing against India is more disappointing than a defeat against the USA. At the moment, everyone’s morale in the team is down, it’s necessary to lift it as we can still bounce back and we won’t lose hope until it’s over”, concluded Azhar Mahmood, who represented Pakistan from 1996 to 2007.
The match between Pakistan and the USA resulted in a closely contested tie, with the USA emerging victorious in the super over. However, Pakistan’s performance against India was quite the opposite, as they struggled to chase down a modest target of 120 runs.
In both matches, Pakistan’s batting lineup failed to deliver collectively. Despite a promising start by Babar Azam, who scored 44 runs in the first match against the USA, subsequent batters failed to capitalize on the momentum. Pakistan concluded their innings at 159-7.
Similarly, in the game against India, Mohammad Rizwan provided a decent start with 31 runs, but the rest of the batting order faltered, with none managing to score more than 15 runs.
With two losses in two matches, Pakistan faces the risk of elimination from the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 after the Group Stage. They have upcoming matches against Canada and Ireland, but even victories in these matches offer no assurance of progressing to the Super 8 round. Only the top two teams from each group advance, and with the USA and India already securing two wins each, Pakistan’s path to qualification remains uncertain.
