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Cricket World Cup 2023: Babar Azam blames bowlers for Pakistan's demoralising defeat
Pakistan are now fifth on the points table after a hat trick of defeats
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam. — X
After Pakistan crashed to their third straight loss in the ongoing World Cup, skipper Babar Azam lamented the underwhelming effort in the field saying that his bowling attack was not up to the mark.
After the mauling against India and Australia, Pakistan's bowlers had another forgettable outing, failing to put any pressure on the Afghan batters despite defending an above-par total of 283 on a sluggish and challenging Chennai surface.
Afghanistan produced their upset win in their ongoing World Cup campaign, outplaying Pakistan in all three departments.
The emphatic eight-wicket victory was their first-ever win over their bitter neighbours in 50-over cricket.
"This defeat hurts. We thought we had posted a good total on the board, one that our bowlers could defend. However, our bowlers were simply not up to the mark as we neither managed to pick wickets in the middle overs (of the Afghanistan innings) nor put a check on the scoring rate," Babar said.
"If you fail to deliver the goods in even one department, you end up on the losing side. It's as simple as that. We couldn't stop the boundaries and gave away easy runs, which cost us in the end.
"As far as our bowling is concerned, I thought we started well but couldn't effect breakthroughs in the middle overs."
Some big hits in the back end of the Pakistan innings, by Iftikhar Ahmed (40 from 27) lifted them to a competitive score after Abdullah Shafique (58) and Babar Azam (74) set the platform with contrasting half-centuries.
"Yes, absolutely. This loss would rankle. It was very hard for the team to take. Our plan was to get to a total of 280-290, which we managed to accomplish," Babar said.
"However, our bowling and fielding were not up to the mark. We have to improve vastly in these two aspects if we are to challenge teams in the tournament.
"I felt that in the middle overs, our spinners didn't bowl as tightly as they should have. We didn't bowl enough dot balls, which would have choked the run flow and put their batters under pressure. When your bowlers hit the mark in only 3-4 overs, you end up relieving the pressure on the opposition."
Pakistan are now fifth on the points table after a hat trick of defeats.
They will lock horns with the high-flying South Africans on Friday in Bengaluru.
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