LAHORE: The series loss to England has forced Pakistan into some soul-searching but skipper Babar Azam remains confident that his side will iron out the issues with the T20 World Cup fast approaching.
England clinched the seven-match series 4-3 here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday after whipping the hosts by 67-runs in a game where Pakistan were never in the hunt to chase down a target of 210 after losing batting mainstays Babar and Mohammad Rizwan early on. The defeat in the decider came after another one-sided game in the sixth T20 where England walloped Pakistan in reaching a target of 170 with 5.3 overs to spare. Babar, however, is backing his side to bounce back from the chastening defeats with the World Cup opener against arch-rivals India less than three weeks away.
“Many things have come out clearly before the World Cup and we will sit down to think and discuss each issue to get their solutions at the earliest,” Babar told reporters on Sunday, admitting he was worried with the continuing travails of Pakistan’s middle order.
Pakistan’s batting template hinges on openers Babar and Rizwan getting runs. In Sunday’s defeat, it was pretty evident that the middle-order batters lack the punch to play game-changing innings. “We were chasing a score above 200 and we had to show positive intent but after Rizwan and I fell early, we couldn’t recover,” said Babar negating the impression that the coaching staff was unable to remove the players’ flaws.
Instead, he said that it was a question of players regaining form. “When a player is struggling for form, he wants to use different methods to come out from the lean period and perform. Hopefully we will remove the flaws soon.” More worrisome for Pakistan was that the manner of their defeat on Sunday saw several fans turn on the home team. with batter Khushdil Shah leaving the field in tears after being dismissed. S: Dawn.com
Saturday, April 18, 2026
