The Babar Azam-led Pakistan team has finished their journey in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, in the West Indies and the United States of America, where they failed to qualify for the ‘super eight’ stage of the tournament, despite being in a group which included associate nations like the USA and Canada.
They started their tournament on the back of a stunning defeat against the co-host at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, as the batters struggled to find runs in the middle on a surface that was expected to be helpful to both the batting and bowling side. The smartness of the American bowlers, besides understanding their conditions helped them in that scenario.
Even when somehow the bowlers managed to push the game to the super-over, better performance was anticipated from the Pakistan side, who couldn’t hold their nerve, and took a few very bad decisions at the crucial juncture of the game.
Pakistan’s left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir flies to join Derbyshire
Against India, it felt for a moment that the Pakistan side was denying their own victory. There was a sense of negligence in their batting, as they failed to depend on a low total of 120 runs, even from a dominating position where they needed 48 runs at run-a-ball with eight wickets in hand.
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The conditions were perfect, and only one stable partnership would have done the job for them, but they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals which channeled India’s comeback in the contest. The new batters weren’t getting the feel of the ball easily on the bat, as the bowlers made life so tough for them.
Pakistan fell short by six runs. Even though they got the better of Canada at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, it wasn’t a convincing victory, as they chased a low total in the penultimate over of the game.
Even when the runners-up of the last season was eliminated from the group stage of the T20 World Cup 2024, they didn’t come up with a better and significant show in the dead-rubber against Ireland at the Central Broward Regional Park Regional Stadium Turf Ground in Lauderhill, Florida.
From a strong position in the chase of 107 runs, Pakistan decided to bring some drama to the contest and gave life to the already-dead encounter by losing three wickets for five runs in the middle order. It was Babar Azam, who stood at one end and was supported by the lower order to take them home.
Nonetheless, the players will return back home on June 19 via Dubai. However, a few sources have revealed six players- including captain Babar, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Azam Khan, Imad Wasim, and Mohammad Amir won’t go back as they have planned to spend time with their family and friends.
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Amir, however, is expected to fly to England to join Derbyshire in the ongoing T20 Blast competition, where their next game is on June 21, against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
The rest of the squads will return home. The head coach of the Pakistan team Gary Kirsten, along with assistant coach Azhar Mahmood will also head back home, as the coaching staff won’t have any immediate meeting engagements and have received permissions from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
They will host Bangladesh for a two-match Test series in August, while their next T20I fixture is at the end of the year when they face Australia in an away three-match series.
