Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam is confident that his team will make a comeback against South Africa in the third T20I which will be played on Wednesday. Pakistan was beaten comprehensively in the second T20I by six wickets in Johannesburg.
Pakistani batsmen could only manage 140 for 9 in their allotted overs after choosing to bat first. The skipper said it was a bad day but we will try to learn from this experience and come back stronger in the upcoming match.
“I am not too disappointed as we have been performing quite well on this tour. It was a bad day for us but we will come back from this,” said Babar in a post-match virtual press conference.
Even Babar Azam was not fluent as he made 50 ball 50 and shared Pakistan’s only productive partnership, 58 off 49 balls for the third wicket, with Mohammad Hafeez who scored 32 runs.
Aggression cost us the game, said Babar after five of his batsmen fell to catches when they mistimed big hits. “Our top-order collapsed and failed to utilize first six overs. Middle-order also lacked consistency as only my partnership with Hafeez Bhai clicked but couldn’t continue for long.”
Babar also praised South African bowlers for their discipline bowling and said that they kept the pressure on us and didn’t give us many scoring options. He further said that our [Pakistan] bowlers couldn’t pick up wickets in the powerplay and that was our only chance of winning the game.
“South Africa bowled really well to make the most of picking early wickets. Our bowlers failed to carry the momentum and in T20Is if you don’t take wickets in the powerplay, things get out of control quickly,” he concluded.
The series moves to nearby Centurion for the final two matches, on Wednesday and Friday.
