
Saqlain Mushtaq Defended Mohammad Rizwan For Poor Strike Rate And Babar Azam’s Poor T20I Form
Mohammad Rizwan(55 off 49 balls) and Iftikhar Ahmed (32 off 31 balls) added 71 runs for the third wicket in almost 10 overs as Sri Lanka kept mounting the pressure by bowling tidily in the middle overs.
Mohammad Rizwan was dismissed in the 17th over, and by then, the game had slipped through Pakistan’s hand. They needed 61 runs in the last four overs with six wickets in hand.
“If you’re a champion team, you need to be a champion irrespective of whether it’s first innings or second innings,” Saqlain said at the press interaction.“In the previous game, they asked us to bat first and won. In this game, we batted second and they still won. The way they played in both games, it’s well-deserved.”

“Every team and player has their own style and methods,” Saqlain Mushtaq said in Mohammad Rizwan’s defense.“The way we played, we reached semi-finals of the T20 World Cup last year, we got to the final of an Asia Cup here. Evidence suggests you’re doing something right to get here,” Saqlain Mushtaq said.“It’s not compulsory that you do what the rest of the world is doing [in terms of strike rates and showing more intent with the bat]. We’d rather focus on the small things we aren’t doing right instead of looking at what others are doing. His method is not bad,” Saqlain Mushtaq said.
“We played just nine overs of good cricket; after that they dominated for 31 overs in all aspects,” Saqlain Mushtaq said.
“I said it earlier too if someone looks at his batting, you’d just say he’s unlucky, especially the way he’s getting out,” Saqlain said.“It’s just a patch. If you look at the rankings, he’s top in T20Is [No. 2, behind Rizwan] and in ODIs. It’s just been bad luck. The way he’s training and playing it’s amazing. His work ethic is top-notch. I don’t need to say more. I hope Allah saves him from the evil eye.”
“You need to show faith, trust and belief,” Saqlain Mushtaq said, seemingly running a little low on patience by this point.“If you keep shuffling, it sends a message that you don’t trust them. After the second match itself, there was chatter about our batting shuffle. I don’t follow social media, but you do hear the murmurs. You need to give time. If you keep shuffling, how will you know? Whatever we did, it’s not good to shuffle a lot. It sends a wrong message,” Saqlain Mushtaq said.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam failed to make a mark in the title clash of the Asia Cup 2022 on Sunday, as he was dismissed on 5 of six deliveries against Sri Lanka in Dubai.
Babar Azam endured a poor outing in the continental tournament this year, as he scored only 68 runs in six innings averaging only 11.33 registering the best score of 30 against the same opponents in the Super 4 game.
Saqlain Mushtaq: Bhanuka Rajapaksa Played The Innings Of His Life In Asia Cup 2022 Final
“They have been playing brilliant cricket; credit goes to all the boys. Looks like they are on top of the world. The way they played against India and got momentum against Afghanistan, a lot of praise for all of them. I’ll credit the Sri Lankans.”

” We’d broken their backbone in the first nine overs, but the way Rajapaksa played, and the others rallied around him, no praise is enough. I’m sure it should be the best innings of his life. The way he lifted them, hats off.”