Pakistan captain Babar Azam rued the mistakes his team made against India and the United States in their previous Group A matches, even as the former champions bid farewell to the T20 World Cup with a three-wicket consolation win over Ireland here.
Babar was there to see Pakistan come home against the Irish team as they posted an unbeaten 32 in a chase of 107 that they almost ruined.
“I think with bowling, the conditions suited our players. But in batting we made some mistakes in the matches against the United States and India. When you lose wickets, the pressure is on you,” Babar said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We couldn’t finish close games and as a team we weren’t good,” he admitted.
PAK vs IRE, T20 World Cup 2024: Pakistan beats Ireland to end campaign with a win
Pakistan lost its first two Group A matches against India and the United States before beating Canada and Ireland. However, Babar was happy that his team finished the tournament with a victory.
“Yes, we finished well. We took the first wickets with the ball. But with the bat we didn’t finish well. “We lost consecutive wickets, but in the end we got over the line.”
Babar said Pakistan will have to regroup quickly, although he did not give any definitive answer on his future as captain. Let’s see what equipment you need, I’ll agree with that. We have a good group of players, we have to go home, chat and see where we are missing and then come back,” he added.
Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was later named player of the match, said they did not play the right type of cricket in the tournament.
“We haven’t played the type of cricket our country demands, we have some areas to improve. It is difficult (the result),” Afridi said.
Ireland captain Paul Stirling said they never managed to get the team balance right.
“It’s about getting that balance right. T20…we probably won’t have it this time. It’s been a tough couple of weeks. We will come back, we will regroup and see if we can come back stronger,” she noted.
