Pakistan’s Babar Azam plays a shot during a T20 Cricket World Cup match against Canada at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on June 11, 2024 in New York. Photo: Getty Images via AFP
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is relieved to have logged their first win in the T20 World Cup New York on June 11, and said they couldn’t complete their chase of 107 in lesser number of overs because of a difficult pitch.
Having suffered back-to-back defeats against USA and India in their first two Group A matches, the game against Canada was a must-win tie for Pakistan.
Chasing a modest target, Pakistan rode on Mohammad Rizwan’s run-a-ball unbeaten 53 and Babar’s 33 to get over the line in 17.3 overs.
“Good for us, we need this win. We started well with the bowling, in the first six overs we know we had to be up to the mark,” Babar said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“It was in our mind (to get over USA’s net run rate), to win before 14 overs but the pitch made it difficult.” After making a run-a-ball 33, Babar was out caught in the slips while trying to guide a delivery down to third man, and the dismissal left the Pakistan skipper angry.
“Because I got out with the same shot twice (against India)! This is my shot but sometimes you need success. I’ll try my best.” India are currently placed atop Group A with two wins from as many matches with USA following with same number of victories.
Pakistan have climbed up to the third spot with two points from three games ahead of Canada and Ireland.
Canada captain Saad Bin Zafar felt it was a difficult wicket to bat early on.
“Definitely, it was a bit disappointing. We wanted to play a positive brand of cricket and I think the wicket was not very helpful. It was difficult to bat early on – not a good toss to lose. We were about 25 to 30 runs short,” he said.