"It was a defendale total" Babar Azam pins blame on bowlers after shock loss to USA

Babar Azam scored 44 runs in 43 balls against the USA.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam reckons his bowlers were “not up to the mark in terms of our bowling areas” during USA’s innings as the hosts made one of the biggest upsets in T20 World Cup history.

The USA stunned everyone by defeating Pakistan, the runners-up of the last edition, in match number 11 of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in Dallas. Monank Patel’s team, which had earlier defeated Canada, now have a healthy chance of qualifying for the Super 8 round.

The USA vs PAK encounter was a thriller as it went into the Super Over, where the hosts prevailed by 5 runs.

The heroes for USA were left-arm spinner Nosthush Kenjige, who took three wickets, Monank Patel, who hit a half-century, while Andries Gous (35 off 26), Aaron Jones (36* off 26), Nitish Kumar, who hit a boundary on the last ball to tie the game, and Saurabh Netravalkar, who kept his calm in the Super Over, played significant roles too in USA’s historic win.

We should have defended that total: Babar Azam

After the loss, Babar Azam said that given their bowling attack and some assistance from the pitch, Pakistan should have defended their total of 159 runs.

“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,” the Pakistani captain said.

“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.”

Babar scored 44 runs in 43 balls, managing a strike rate of 102, but didn’t make any comment on his batting.

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