- Pakistan captain Babar Azam has confirmed that several roles, including his captaincy, will be reviewed.
If Babar Azam’s tournament-concluding press conference is anything to go by, Pakistan is preparing to face tough questions about what went wrong in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The Asian powerhouse missed out on qualifying for the Super Eight phase due to costly losses to the United States and India, two very close matches.
They saved face, to some extent, by ending the tournament with wins over Canada and Ireland. But that has not prevented the team and its captain from receiving some criticism.
“As much as you (all) are disappointed, we are even more disappointed,” Babar said following a translation from Urdu after Pakistan’s victory over Ireland.
“It’s not that we lost because of one person… (but) as a team we lost.”
While Babar’s position as captain will surely face some scrutiny, the skipper suggested he was not in a position to decide whether he would continue in that role in the future.
“I haven’t thought about that (yet),” Babar continued.
“When I return (to Pakistan), we will discuss all the things that happened here. When they gave me (the captaincy) back it was the decision (of the PBC). The decision is theirs.”
While Babar took the responsibility, he noted that his entire team must focus on improving in the important moments.
The margin between Pakistan’s success and failure in the World Cup was razor-thin: they lost in a Super Over to the United States and fell six runs short of India’s total.
“There are 11 players and each of them has a role,” Babar also admitted.
“I can’t play in the place of all the players. I think that as a team we have not been able to apply, follow through and finish things. We have to calm down and accept that we don’t play well as a team. It’s the fault of the 15 players. We do not execute. “We’ll sit down and talk about it.”
Pakistani cricket legend Wasim Akram has pleaded that the PCB does not overreact to the results of this tournament.
“You can’t change seven or eight players,” Wasim told the ICC’s Digital Daily programme.
“I don’t think there will be drastic changes immediately. Maybe two (or) three players, put some youngsters in the middle order and make sure you stick with them for a year. Then you can say, ‘at least we are building a team for the (ICC men’s) Champions Trophy’ which will be held next year in Pakistan.”
Babar has confirmed that he will offer to take part as the Pakistan administration reviews the team’s campaign.
“I will give my opinion, that is my responsibility as captain… and we will see what happens. “We all made a mistake,” he added.
