'Should have won..' Pakistan captain Babar Azam recalls loss against India in ICC T20 World Cup 2022

Babar Azam added that Shaheen Afridi’s injury in the final cost them the ICC T20 World Cup title in 2022.

Pakistan white-ball captain Babar Azam has expressed his thoughts regarding loss against arch-rivals India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia during the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.

The Men in Green, who are the runners-up of the previous edition of the T20 World Cup, had a brilliant run until the final. However, their poor record against arch-rivals India continued to extend after they suffered a thrilling defeat. On October 23, 2022, the iconic MCG in Australia hosted the high-voltage Indo-Pak match.

India elected to bowl first and restricted the Men in Green to a competitive total of 159/8 in 20 overs. With the bat, Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed smashed half-centuries. While Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh bagged three wickets each for Men in Blue in the first innings.

While chasing 160, Rohit Sharma-led India started on a worse note as they lost wickets at regular intervals. However, Hardik played a brilliant knock of 40 runs, which gave some momentum to the side. Towards the end India needed 28 runs from eight balls, with the chase master Virat Kohli on strike against Pakistan’s ace pacer Haris Rauf.

However, the Indian batter hammered two sixes against Rauf, which laid the foundation for chasing 160 runs. In the end, India won the game by four wickets. Kohli played one of the best innings in the T20 World Cups as he remained unbeaten on 82.

While recalling the heartbreaking loss against arch-rivals India, Men in Green skipper Babar said they should have have won the game but India took it away from them.

“For me, in 2022 [World Cup], we could and should have won the India game, but they took it away,” Babar said in the Pakistan Cricket Board podcast.

Shaheen Afridi’s injury cost us the match against England in the T20 World Cup 2022 final

The Babar-led side managed to reach the final of the previous edition and they faced Jos Buttler-led England on November 13, 2022, at the MCG. After being asked to bat first, Pakistan reached a respectable total of 137/8 in 20 overs. Masood (32) and skipper Babar (32) were the top scorers for the Men in Green.

While defending 138, Pakistan ace pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi suffered an injury during the match, which cost the team the title as the English side won the grand finale by five wickets.

Babar recalled the T20 World Cup 2022 final loss and said that Shaheen’s injury cost them the game as they were forced to give an over to a spinner.

“Shaheen’s [Afridi] injury was impactful because, at that time, the pressure was on them [England]. We were forced to give an over to a spinner and that made a difference,” he said while recalling the T20 World Cup 2022 loss against England in the final.

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