The Pakistan cricket team is literally on the brink of exit from the ODI Cricket World Cup 2023. If things don’t go their way in the remaining matches of the league stage, the Babar Azam-led Pakistan cricket team may not be able to qualify for the Cricket World Cup semi-finals. Pakistan have so far lost their last three games to India, Australia and Afghanistan. They next face South Africa on Friday and they must win that match to keep their semi-final hopes. (World Cup 2023 points table)
Amid such a pressure situation, former Pakistan star player Mohammad Yousuf said that he heard Babar cried after the loss.
“I saw the press conference and it seemed that Babar Azam is under pressure. I heard Babar Azam cried too. We are with Babar Azam. We don’t lose due to one individual, it’s a team game. If we would have been in the team, it would have been our responsibility too. Win and loss is part of the game, ” Ypusuf said on Samaa TV.
“I felt sad looking at Babar, He should not take too much stress. They should focus on next four matches. The entire nation is with him. But we need to analyse some things honestly. We were 50-60 runs short against Afghanistan on a good pitch. It seemed like Pakistan were facing Muralitharan. These are normal bowlers. Our fielding and bowling was also not good.”
Pakistan captain Babar Azam admitted “we are hurt” after his team was stunned in an eight-wicket defeat by Afghanistan at the World Cup on Monday which put their semi-finals hopes in peril. Afghanistan achieved their first-ever one-day victory over Pakistan in eight attempts as they chased down a 283-run target with an over to spare.
“We are hurt as a team,” said Azam whose side now have three defeats and two wins in five matches.
They face a formidable South Africa at the same Chennai venue on Friday.
“We must feel the disappointment and my message to my team for the remaining matches will be to learn from this defeat,” said Azam, whose 74 off 95 balls aided by opener Abdullah Shafique‘s 58 guided Pakistan to 282-7 after they won the toss and batted.
“We achieved what we set out to do when we batted but we were not up to the mark in bowling and fielding,” said Azam whose bowlers conceded 17 boundaries in the first 16 overs.
“We failed to put them under pressure but I congratulate Afghanistan for this victory.”
With AFP inputs
Topics mentioned in this article
