'You can't put everything to faith' - Former captain lambasts Pakistan for lacking intent in 20-20 World Cup final

Pakistan T20 side (Source: Twitter)

When the 20-20 World Cup 2022 final got to the sixteen-over mark even then the game was wide open, and it could have gone either way. Pakistan’s strong bowling attack which had breathed fire through the entire tournament made the final a match to remember despite having only 138 to defend.

But then, the match swung to England’s favour because of two events that happened, Shaheen Afridi’s injury, and a tactical blunder made by Babar Azam as he chose to finish Afridi’s over by throwing the ball to Iftikhar Ahmed gave England a foot in the door which they took with both hands and shortly lifted their second 20-20 World Cup title.

Speaking on the same, this is what Misbah-ul-Haq on A Sports , “It was indeed a top effort from Pakistan. They really fought hard. But what I feel, they couldn't handle the pressure. The pressure of a final...somehow I felt that we were under pressure and couldn't execute our plans. We committed errors because we weren't calm. Clearly, we lacked discipline and game awareness, in both batting and bowling. If you have a laid-back approach in such a big match, one mistake can cost you big,” he said.

Pakistan choked under pressure-  Misbah-ul-Haq

“As rightly pointed out, in the 12th over, Babar was dismissed after we managed to get the momentum in the match and had properly delivered that punch to England. Shadab should have batted next because of match-ups. You have to be proactive, you cannot put everything to faith. It is silly not to use all the data available which clearly says that one of your best batsman against that type of bowling...and he had another over left. Iftikhar could have come in late and hit those shots square off the wicket. Then Shaheen's injury was a big blow,” he said.

Pakistan fought hard as their bowlers brought the Men in Green back into the game, which was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but they were led down by their batters who scored far too few runs on the big day which made them fall short of what could have been their second 20-20 World Cup title since 2009.