T20 World Cup: Babar Azam admits Pakistan were not 'up to the mark' in shock USA loss

In what will go down as one of the biggest surprise results in World Cup history, USA shocked Pakistan in the Super Over of the T20 World Cup on Thursday. Following the result, skipper Babar Azam admitted they were ’not up to the mark’ even though he was confident in the bowlers being able to defend a low 160 run target.

Pakistan were shut down for 159/7 in the regular innings and Azam felt the conditions allowed for the target to be defended given their prolific pace attack.

Pakistan were sent to bat after losing the toss and lost three early wickets to be reduced to 30/3 at the end of the powerplay. Babar and Shadab Khan helped the recovery with a stand of 72 off 48 for the fourth wicket but USA tied the game with staggering hits in the last three balls to force the Super Over.

There, USA held their nerves while Pakistan lost theirs for a famous win.

“Today’s wicket had help for the fast bowlers in the first six overs,” Babar said at the post-match presentation. “But later on, I didn’t feel it was a different wicket. It settled down a bit. Because of the early start - the matches are starting at 10.30am - the fast bowlers will obviously get a little help. There was some juice in the pitch early morning. So they utilised that and executed their plan.

“Even in the second innings, I think we also got help, but we were not up to the mark in terms of our bowling areas. We lacked in that in the first ten overs. We came back after that but they had already taken the momentum. But given the bowlers we have, we should have defended that total. On this pitch, I think it was a defendable total for our bowling.

“We are better than that in the bowling. We did not take wickets in the first six overs. In the middle overs, if your spinner is not taking wickets, then the pressure is on you. After ten overs, we did come back but I think the way they finished game in the Super Over, the credit goes to the US team.”

The onus of bowling the pressure Super Over fell on Mohammad Amir who buckled. The left-arm seamer conceded 18 runs, including three wides and seven extras in all, as the USA batters Aaron Jones and Harmeet Singh collected runs with swift running between the wickets during wides as well. Pakistan, in response, could only muster 13.

“He [Amir] is an experienced bowler,” Babar said. “He knows how to bowl and we were just trying to bowl according to field. But I think the US batsmen were smart. Even when the ball went to the keeper, they were running. So I think that thing was a plus point for them in the Super Over.”

Babar did however rue the batters not making use of the platform set by Shadab and himself. They had taken Pakistan to 98/4 in the 13th over before left-arm spinner Nosthush Kenjige dismissed Shadab and Azam Khan off consecutive balls to dent them again.

“In the first six overs, the ball was holding a bit and seaming around,” Babar said. “So it was important to build a partnership. When Shadab and I had that partnership, we got momentum. I think when we lost the wickets back to back, that was the turning point. The momentum we had was shifted towards the other side.

“It was difficult in the beginning, but we covered it up. But as a professional unit, the middle order needs to step up in such situations. This is not an excuse - I don’t think it was that they played well, I think we played badly.”

The question on everyone’s mind was the same: did Pakistan take USA lightly?

“See, whenever you come to any tournament, you do the best preparation always,” Babar said. “You can say it’s a kind of mindset. When you come up against a team like this, you relax a little. If you don’t execute your plan against any team, then whatever team it is, they will make you pay. So I believe that our execution was not up to the mark. We were doing well in the preparation but in the match, we did not execute our plans as a team.”

‘Should have finished the game off early’

While there was disappointment in the Pakistan camp, USA players celebrated a miraculous win. They’ve now won two in two in Group A and top the standings.

USA captain Monank Patel, though, reckons they should have gone past the finish line without the need of the Super Over.

“When I got out, we were still in the game,” Monank said after the match, “and I thought we should have finished the game and we should have never gone to Super Over. But the way we kept our nerves and in the Super Over particularly, scoring 18 runs itself gave us a big upper hand to defend the target.”

Except the last few overs where Pakistan applied the brakes with accurate bowling, it had been USA’s day all along.

“The plan was to win the toss and bowl first,” Monank said. “And we knew initially first half an hour it would help pace bowlers and the way we kept them quiet and took the crucial wickets in the powerplay, it helped really well. And yeah, 160 on this wicket with one side short boundary, I felt we were always in the game.”

In the Super Over, USA went with left-arm seamer Saurabh Netravalkar instead of Ali Khan, who, the commentators believed, was the better choice going into it for his propensity to bowl at the death. However, the gamble paid off.

“The plan was we wanted to make sure that we utilise the conditions,” Monank said. “And the condition was a left-arm bowler bowling cutters and wide yorkers with left-arm over angle going out. Ali Khan usually attacks the stumps, but we wanted to make sure that we make them play outside off stump. And for a left-armer, the angle helps. Saurabh had had a good day, and I backed him.”

Coming into the T20 World Cup, USA had already created quite a stir by beating Bangladesh 2-1 in a three-match home T20I series. In the T20 World Cup opener, they beat Canada and now have two wins in two matches. With India and Ireland to come, a spot in the Super 8 is a real possibility. But Monank is not thinking that far ahead.

“We know what we have worked and what capability we have,” he said. “And we just focus on the particular game. And we don’t want to keep our emotions too high or low. We’ll make sure that whatever the win today is, we’ll enjoy it and make sure that next day we come fresh.

“We want to focus on one game at a time. And our focus would be on playing against India now. We don’t even want to think about the Ireland right now. Super 8 is far ahead.”

But Monank agreed that beating Pakistan was a massive achievement for the team and could open many doors for them.

“I am happy with the win, playing against Pakistan for the first time in the World Cup and beating them it was an unbelievable performance from our side,” he said. “So yeah, I would say it’s a big day for Team USA and for the USA cricket community too.

“Of course, beating Pakistan in the World Cup is going to open many doors for us. Obviously hosting the World Cup in USA and performing here as a team, it helps us to grow the cricket in USA.”