(ICC Photo)
On June 7th, Babar Azam, Pakistan’s captain, acknowledged underestimating less experienced teams in major tournaments. He admitted their below-par performance led to a surprising loss against the United States in the Twenty20 World Cup.
In Dallas, the United States achieved a remarkable upset by defeating Pakistan in a Super Over, marking one of the biggest surprises in Twenty20 World Cup history. This victory secured their second win in the tournament.
Pakistan has a history of losing to lower-ranked teams in major tournaments. In the 2022 T20 World Cup, they fell to Zimbabwe, and in last year’s 50-overs World Cup, Afghanistan claimed victory over them.
“Whenever you come into any tournament, you always do the best preparation,” Babar told reporters after the defeat.
“But you can say it’s a kind of mindset, when you come up against a team like this, you relax a little. You take things a little lightly.
“If you don’t execute your plan against any team, then whatever team it is, they will beat you. I believe that we are not up to the mark in executing. We are doing well in preparation, but in the match, we are not executing our plans as a team.”
Babar expressed regret over his team’s inability to take wickets early in the U.S. innings. The significant 68-run partnership between Mohank Patel and Andries Gous set the tone for the host nation’s successful chase.
“We are not playing good in all three departments,” Babar said.
“We are better than that in the bowling, we aren’t taking wickets in the first six overs. In the middle overs, if your spinner is not taking wickets then pressure is on us.
“But I think the way they finished the game in the super overs, credit to the U.S. team.”
Pakistan next face arch rivals India in a blockbuster game in New York on Sunday.
