The Pakistan skipper lifted his team's spirits after their painful loss to India at the start of the T20 World Cup 2022.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam took the loss against India at the start of their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign in his strides and encouraged his teammates to keep their spirits up.
Babar told the rest of the Pakistan players after the defeat to the arch-rivals on Sunday (October 23) not to feel disheartened as they gave it their all in nearly defending a middling score of 159/8 at the iconic MCG.
In a clip posted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after the thriller in Victoria, their men’s skipper can be seen lifting his teammates through words and ensuring they don’t let the defeat to India affect them psychologically.
Babar Azam recognised the importance of his players being up and ready to go for the rest of the campaign, hoping to see them make amends for the result to India, which can often dictate the mood in the camp for the entire tournament.
A calm and composed individual, Babar Azam didn’t show excess dismay at the loss to India and made an effort to ensure his players also didn’t let it impact their spirits too much.
Babar chose not to be overly critical of his side since they ran India extremely close and told them to “start afresh” come the next match.
“Brothers, it was a good match. We put in the effort, like always. We made some mistakes but from those mistakes, we have to learn. We should not fall. The tournament has just started, we have lots of matches left, remember that,” Babar said in the PCB video over Twitter.
“We didn’t lose because of one person. We all lost as a team. Nobody should point fingers at one person. This should not happen, not in this team. As a team we lost and we will win as a team. We have to stick together, remember that,” he added.
“We win as one and lose as one!”
Listen what Matthew Hayden, Babar Azam and Saqlain Mushtaq told their players following a heartbreaking loss in Melbourne.#T20WorldCup | #WeHaveWeWill pic.twitter.com/suxGf34YSe
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 23, 2022
The Pakistan skipper also came out in defence of left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, who couldn’t keep India down below 16 runs required off the 20th over, with Indian lower-order bat R Ashwin hitting him over mid-off for a boundary when 1 run was needed off the last ball.
“Don’t worry Nawaz. You are my match winner and I will always believe in you. You will win matches for me. It was a pressure game but you took it very close so very well done.”
“Whatever it is, leave it here. Going ahead, we will start afresh. As a team, we played very well and we have to continue like this. Wish you all the best,” Babar Azam added before the players erupted a round of applause for their captain.
Pakistan next play Zimbabwe on Thursday (October 27) in Perth.
