Babar Azam was clearly frustrated with his dismissal during Pakistan’s chase against Canada. Despite needing a quick win to improve their NRR, Babar Azam was relieved to secure their first T20 World Cup victory on Tuesday attributing the slow chase to a tough pitch.
Pakistan needed a win against Canada after losing their first two Group A matches against the USA and India. Chasing a small target, Pakistan relied on Mohammad Rizwan’s steady 53 not out and Babar Azam’s 33 to win the game in 17.3 overs.
What Babar Azam Said
At the post match presentation, Babar Azam said,
“Good for us, we need this win. We started well with the bowling, in the first six overs we know we had to be up to the mark,”
“It was in our mind (to get over USA’s net run rate), to win before 14 overs but the pitch made it difficult.”
Babar was caught in the slips while attempting to direct a delivery down to the third man after scoring 33 runs off 33 balls.
“Because I got out with the same shot twice (against India)! This is my shot but sometimes you need success. I’ll try my best.”
Pakistan has moved up to third place with two points after three games, ahead of Canada and Ireland.
What Canada’s Captain Saad Bin Zafar Said
Explaining the tough wicket to bat early on the captain said,
“It was a bit disappointing. We wanted to play a positive brand of cricket and I think the wicket was not very helpful. It was difficult to bat early on – not a good toss to lose. We were about 25 to 30 runs short”