The India-Pakistan clash at the T20 World Cup in Australia ended in India’s favour as Virat Kohli played a gem of an innings to guide his team home. But there were plenty of positives from Pakistan’s point of view as their captain Babar Azam came to the post match press conference with a motive to defend his bowlers as he felt that they did really well to stretch the game to the last ball.
However Babar received massive criticism on social media for keeping Mohammed Nawaz for the decisive over where the spinner faltered under pressure and failed to defend 16 runs in the penultimate over. Babar’s thought on the other hand was to break the 113 run partnership between Virat and Hardik Pandya with his pacers who were bowling brilliantly.
“Early on, what the bowlers did in the first 10 overs was outstanding. We have to give credit to Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli for the way they finished the match, the way they shifted the momentum towards India. Basically our plan was to get our main bowler there because we wanted a wicket,” shared the Pakistan captain at the press conference.
Nawaz, who was given the responsibility to bowl the last over with 16 runs to defend, started off brilliantly as he picked up the dangerous Hardik Pandy with his first ball. But it was a waist height full toss that changed the complexion of the game as Virat thumped it for a six and the umpires also called it a no ball. He followed it up with a wide and the pressure was clearly on his face. He then struck the wickets but Virat survived due to free hit, more importantly he had the presence of mind to run three as the ball trickled down before it was recovered. Nawaz then got rid of Dinesh Karthik through a stumping. But Ravichandran Ashwin added the finishing touches to India’s famous chase. .
Nawaz fought against all odds and apart from a few errors he almost won Pakistan the game. Hence Babar praised his spinner and credited his efforts to bowl under such pressure. “If you see, even the last over was tight and it went down to the last ball. You also have to give credit to him [Nawaz], bowling under pressure, under such high intensity, it is not easy. This will also be a learning experience for him. Whenever he faces such situations in the future, he’ll try to do better.”
Pakistan will next face Zimbabwe at the Optus Stadium on October 27 and Babar Azam and his men will be looking to get back to winning ways and put this defeat against India at the back of them.
