Azhar Mahmood, Pakistan’s assistant coach, has claimed that the defeat to India was more devastating than the loss to the United States in the present T20 World Cup 2024. The former all-rounder remarked that the players’ morale is substantially down after losing a winnable game against India.
Pakistan had begun its T20 World Cup with a super-over loss to the USA in Dallas, Texas. This was an embarrassing loss for the 2009 T20 World champions, as it was their first defeat to a non-full member ICC nation.
Babar Azam and Co. bounced back well against India as they won the toss in overcast conditions in New York and chose to bowl first. Haris Rauf with three wickets and Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Amir tore into India’s batting lineup, bundling them into 119 runs. Only Rishabh Pant with 42 and Axar Patel with 20 managed to withstand amazing bowling.
Pakistan was in the driving seat with just 48 runs needed in 48 balls with 8 wickets in hand and a set Mohammad Rizwan at the crease. But he got out to Jasprit Bumrah playing a poor shot and Indian bowlers choked the rest of the batting to keep Pakistan to 113/7 and won the game by 6 runs.
Speaking at a news conference, Azhar Mahmood stated that confidence is low in the camp, but he assured that they will keep their aspirations alive until the end.
“After two defeats, everyone is quite disheartened. Losing against India is more disappointing than a defeat against the USA. At the moment, everyone’s morale in the team is down, it’s necessary to lift it as we can still bounce back and we won’t lose hope until it’s over,” Azhar Mahmood said.
Pakistan now needs not only to defeat Canada and Ireland by large margins, but also pray that either the United States or India lose their remaining matches.
“We lost as a team and can’t blame individuals” – Azhar Mahmood
At the same press conference, Mahmood stated that the defeat was the fault of both the players and the management, emphasizing the importance of developing confidence in their match-winning qualities.
He said: “Our shot selection wasn’t right, which led to a run rate of 10. We were playing well until the 15th over. We lost as a team and can’t blame individuals. The responsibility of failure lies with the entire management, we all have made mistakes. If a player starts doubting their ability, it becomes very difficult. If we play with confidence in ourselves, it will prove everyone wrong.”
Tuesday’s match between Pakistan and Canada will also be played in New York.