T20 World Cup 2022: Babar Azam bemoans team's collective failure following debacle against Zimbabwe

Probably, it was not a day the 2009 T20 World Cup champions Pakistan would’ve been expecting in their campaign of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022. But as it has been said 'cricket is a game of uncertainties', and the eighth edition of the T20 World Cup is proving this notion true to the best of it.

So, the men in green lost to Zimbabwe by the margin of a run in a nail-biting thriller while chasing a below-par total of 131 runs in the 20 overs. It was something that no one in the cricketing fraternity would’ve expected. The second consecutive defeat has also brought last year’s T20 World Cup semi-finalists on the brink of an early exit.

In the same line of events, Babar Azam looked distraught while interacting with the journalists during the post-match press conference and interviews. He happened to blame the collapse of the lineup during the run chase.

I accept it as a captain that we failed to deliver as a unit: Babar Azam

“Very disappointing performance by my team. We were not up to the mark in the batting. We had a bad first six overs. Although Shadab and Shan built a partnership but unfortunately, Shadab got out and then back-to-back collapse of wickets and it built a pressure on the batting. In the first six overs, we are not using the new ball as we are supposed to. Later on, we finished well. We will sit together and learn from our mistakes and come back hard next match,” said Babar to journalists during the post-match conversation.

Subsequently, Babar was also asked by a CricTracker reporter on losing two consecutive matches in a row by very close margins.

“You lost both matches very closely, so do you think your team can’t hold nerves in the pressure situation and you as a captain?," questioned the reporter

“Yeah, I accept it as a captain that we failed to deliver as a unit and did not bat as we should’ve done. Eventually, we collapsed and lost the match,” replied Babar to CricTracker reporter.

Here’s a video of Babar during post-match press conference:

I was in a chat with the Pakistan skipper @babarazam258 after an embarrassing defeat against Zimbabwe in the second consecutive match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. Here's a bit of what he said during the interaction.#ICCT20WorldCup #ZimVsPak #ICCT20WC #PAKvsZIM pic.twitter.com/yWMtwzASCD

— Umesh Bharatpuria (@umeshbhartpuria) October 27, 2022

While summing up his remarks, the 28-year-old also backed team’s tactic to bring an extra pacer in the playing XI when he was asked if the same has backfired for them.

"I don't think so. This pitch required fast bowlers, so we had that in the planning and that's why we had an extra fast bowler," he concluded.

Click here to know the T20 World Cup Points Table and  T20 World Cup Schedule updates.