After an embarrassing 2-0 series loss against England, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was not happy with the team’s middle order and has blamed it for poor performance in the fourth and final game of series at the Oval on Thursday.
The captain’s comment, just ahead of the T20I World Cup 2024, comes after the Men in Green were defeated by England by seven wickets. England chased Pakistan’s 158-run target in 15.3 overs for the loss of three wickets.
Babar, commenting on the performance in the post post-match presentation ceremony, was happy with the way his team played with the bat during powerplay but the game took a turn when the innings began fluctuating in the middle overs.
“After six overs we were doing very well, but then I got out, the middle-order needs to step up,” said the Pakistan captain.
Babar added that England’s bowling is very good, so the Green Shirts had to take their chances.
“Need to sort out those things for the World Cup. A few injuries but a lot of positives, we played well in patches, but to win you need 100%,” he said.
Earlier, Buttler asked Babar Azam and Co. to bat first. The visitors started the innings brilliantly with the opening duo of Babar and Mohammad Rizwan giving a flying start.
The Green Shirts looked in complete control of the match but Babar (36) lost his wicket on the last ball of the sixth over, leaving Pakistan 59-1.
Soon after Babar’s dismissal, Rizwan (23) too followed him back to the pavilion by getting bowled by Adil Rashid in the next over.
Pakistan continued to lose wickets at regular intervals but Usman Khan, who came into the playing XI over Saim Ayub, scored crucial 38 runs on 21 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes.
Fakhar Zaman (9), Azam Khan (0) and Shadab Khan (0) failed with the bat. Iftikhar Ahmed had the chance to cruise the Green Shirts to a great total but the right-handed batter concluded his innings after contributing 21 runs on 18 balls.
Naseem Shah scored 16 runs down the order as Pakistan’s innings ended at 157 in 19.5 overs.
For England, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone picked two wickets each while Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan and Moeen Ali bagged one each.
England started the chase aggressively, scoring 78 runs in powerplay. Phil Salt and captain Jos Buttler kept playing shots and putting Pakistan bowlers under pressure.
The pair added 82 before Haris Rauf ignited some interest in Pakistan fans by dismissing Salt (45). In his second over, he removed Buttler (39) while Will Jacks (20) was cleaned bowled in the following over.
England finished the target in 15.3 overs for the loss of three wickets courtesy of Jonny Bairstow (28*) and Harry Brook (17*).
Haris was the only Pakistan bowler who took wickets. He bowled figures of 3/38.
Remember, the first and third T20I of the series were washed out due to rain. The second T20I was won by England by 23 runs in Birmingham.
