Captain Babar Azam on Pakistan's eight-wicket Afghanistan world cup defeat

NicheSportMedia

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00:00 Babar, how will you summarize today's match and where do you see the campaign after today's defeat?

00:07 Should we give up hope or is there still hope?

00:09 In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful.

00:11 Absolutely. This loss was very hard as a team.

00:16 Our plan was to score 280-290 and when we achieved that, I think we were up to the mark in bowling and fielding.

00:36 You have to bowl well and field well. In the middle hours, the spinners didn't bowl as they should have and didn't put pressure on them.

00:51 When you bowl well and bowl for 3-4 hours, the pressure comes on the other team.

00:59 I congratulate the team on how they played and played outstandingly.

01:07 Babar, your emotions are telling us that you are sad just like the whole nation is.

01:17 What message do you have for the crores of people in Pakistan who are following this team?

01:31 Is the additional burden of the captain's role affecting your individual performance?

01:38 You never know. It's cricket. Anything can happen. We will try to play our best cricket till the end.

01:48 We have a lot of matches left. We will try to win all the matches.

01:54 We will try to overcome our mistakes.

02:00 As far as the captain is concerned, I don't have any pressure on my batting. I am 100% in my batting.

02:13 I think about the captain in fielding and in batting, I think about the batting.

02:18 I think about how I will run and how I will run for the team.

02:23 Babar, we all know about your bowling line. It's the number one bowling line in the world.

02:29 But we conceded 300+ in the World Cup twice. We couldn't defend 282 in front of Afghanistan.

02:35 What was the problem? Was it because Naseem wasn't there?

02:39 The number one bowling line was completely lost.

02:42 The fielding efforts were also looking clueless.

02:46 Was it taken for granted? Was it a complacent?

02:49 What was the team effort that should have been there? What were you feeling? What was happening with the team?

02:55 We are missing Naseem a lot.

02:59 But apart from that, our bowling line-up is one of the best.

03:05 But I think we are not able to click.

03:08 We don't do well in batting when we bowl. We don't do well in fielding when we bat.

03:13 In fielding, you only do it with attitude. I don't see any attitude from the team.

03:22 Because you need effort there. You need to be extra fit.

03:27 You need to focus on the ball. You shouldn't be in other people's thoughts.

03:33 When the ball comes, you need to be proactive as a fielder.

03:42 I think we are lacking that as a fielding unit.

03:46 Babar, you just talked about attitude and not being able to click.

03:53 Why can't you click?

03:55 Even in the Bangalore match, the ball was hitting a place where batsmen can cut or drive openly.

04:04 Even today, the same thing was repeated and the bad fielding made it worse.

04:09 So, what is the reason for not clicking? Why is there no attitude?

04:15 I talked about attitude in bowling and fielding.

04:19 In bowling, the planning we do is not executed.

04:26 Because sometimes, what you want to do doesn't happen.

04:31 Sometimes, what you want to hit doesn't happen.

04:37 When you hit a boundary, you try to wrap up as soon as possible.

04:42 You try to hit as few runs as possible.

04:44 You keep making mistakes back to back.

04:47 That puts pressure on the player.

04:49 I think because of that pressure, we are not able to apply the tactics.

04:55 When we came here, we saw that the margin of error for bowlers is very low.

05:09 If you bowl a little bit from the wicket, you get hit on that ball.

05:15 We are lacking that. We are not able to hit the stump.

05:19 We do 4 or 2 good balls of the spinner and then we run a few boundaries.

05:28 Because you get less margin.

05:32 When you bowl consistently, you put pressure.

05:37 That is missing from both sides.

05:42 Babar, there is a match against India. If you win, you get a lot of confidence.

05:49 Do you think that Pakistan is still under pressure after India's defeat?

05:58 No, I don't think so.

06:00 We have played the Australian match almost three under.

06:07 We were not able to finish the game.

06:12 We started badly in bowling but we summed up well.

06:19 I don't think we are defeated.

06:26 Every team has a new match and we try to give our best.

06:32 Babar, do you think the target you put on board was sufficient enough to defend?

06:39 I think yes. We ran 10-15 runs short.

06:46 Because against quality spinners, one of the best quality spinners they have.

06:52 We just try to play normal cricket till 40 overs.

06:59 We have a charge in the last 10 overs.

07:04 We will do that in the last 10 hours.

07:10 But yes, we have a target on 190-280.

07:17 Babar, we have seen that our bowlers have not been able to put a wicket or impact on other batsmen.

07:28 Are we over trying in nets or trying to make variations so that we are not able to control the flow of runs?

07:38 Whichever bowler you have, he is scoring 6 or 7 in every over.

07:43 If we talk about spinners, Osama Bir is also off colour.

07:47 His fielding was loose and our other bowlers have not bowled on the line.

07:53 What do you think, are we over trying or not planning properly?

07:59 Are we not targeting the batsmen and not looking at their weakness?

08:02 I think we are over trying in the match.

08:07 In practice, we are up to the mark.

08:09 But in the match, when you have runs on a good ball, we move away from our target.

08:18 When you get hit, you try to finish the ball in the minimum.

08:26 But this is not an excuse.

08:28 As a professional, you have to execute the plan that is given to you.

08:35 So, we are not executing that.

08:37 Babar, obviously the team must be very disappointed at this point.

08:41 As a captain, what message would you give them in the dressing room, so that they can bounce back and regain confidence?

08:47 The message would be simple.

08:52 We will try to learn from this defeat.

08:56 It will definitely hurt us.

08:59 But we will try to talk about the positive things.

09:04 But we will also talk about the things that we did not do well.

09:09 How we will do it in the future.

09:11 Because every match is with a different team.

09:13 We will have to go with a different planning.

09:16 We will have to go with a different mindset.

09:19 We will try to bring a positive vibe in the team.

09:23 Babar, there is a campaign going on against you on social media.

09:27 Are you taking any pressure from that?

09:30 Sir, I don't even know what is going on. I don't even watch it.

09:34 We will be ready for next one.

09:37 - All right.

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