Babar Azam at post-match presentation ceremony© X (Twitter)
Pakistan captain Babar Azam is relieved to have achieved his maiden T20 World Cup win here on Tuesday and said he was unable to complete the chase of 107 in fewer number of overs because of a difficult pitch. After suffering back-to-back defeats against the USA and India in the first two Group A matches, the game against Canada was a must-win tie for Pakistan. Chasing a modest target, Pakistan capitalized on Mohammad Rizwan’s unbeaten 53 and Babar’s 33 to get over the line in 17.3 overs.
“Good for us, we need this win. We started bowling well, in the first six overs we knew we had to be up to the task,” Babar said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“It was in our mind (to beat the US net run rate) to win before 14 overs, but the pitch made it difficult.”
After making a run-a-ball 33, Babar was caught at slip while trying to guide a delivery to third man, and the dismissal left the Pakistan captain furious.
“Because I bowled the same shot twice (against India)! This is my chance, but sometimes you need success. I will try my best.”
India are currently top of Group A with two wins from as many matches, with the USA following with the same number of wins.
Pakistan moved up to third place with two points from three games, ahead of Canada and Ireland.
Canada captain Saad Bin Zafar felt it was a difficult wicket to bat on from the start.
“It was definitely a bit disappointing. We wanted to play a positive brand of cricket and I think the wicket didn’t help much. It was difficult to bat initially – it wasn’t a good throw to lose. We were about 25 to 30 runs short,” he said .
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