Pakistan cricket captain Babar Azam has said that the bowlers on his side gave away too many runs which ended in the team’s loss in the second T20 against England.
In the post-match conference on Sunday, Babar Azam said that after the first partnership, the batsmen could not hold on to the momentum.
Set a 201-run target by England, Pakistan were restricted to 155 for nine in their 20 overs. Openers Azam and Mohammad Rizwan added 50 runs in 5.4 overs before the skipper was dropped by Saqib Mahmood for 22.
After Azam’s dismissal, Pakistan’s hunt fell away as the tourists lost wickets at regular intervals. Sohaib Maqsood (15), Mohammad Hafeez (10), Fakhar Zaman (8) and Azam Khan (1) fell to England’s spin bowling trio of Adil Rashid, Mark Parkinson and Moeen Ali.
Rizwan top-scored for the side with 37 off 29 balls. Shadab Khan remained triumphant on 36 off 22 balls (two fours, three sixes). Imad Wasim contributed 20 runs for England, Saqib took three wickets for 33 while Adil and Moeen took two wickets each conceding 30 and 32 runs respectively.
Admitting failures in the field, Azam said that they would not repeat their mistakes in the next match and would try to play good cricket.
Earlier on Saturday, Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi said the team needs help in case it loses [a match or a series].
Shaheen Afridi won the Player of the Match award for figures of 3 for 30 in 3.2 overs in the twenty20 series opener against England on Friday.
“Pakistan won the first T20I by showing the best teamwork,” Shah said. “The coaches supported us in bad times and gave us confidence.”
Afridi accepted that the green shirts could not play their best during the one-day international series matches. “We played badly in the ODI series,” he said. “It was a bad time.”
“You always have to perform as a team to win,” he added.
