RIZWAN ALI AP Sports Writer – The stunning loss against Afghanistan has hurt Pakistan’s campaign, and one more defeat could well effectively put them out of contention for a semifinal spot.
The cracks in Pakistan’s bowling armory started to appear as early as the second game when Sri Lanka piled up 344 against the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Hasan Ali. At the same time, spinners Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz also kept searching for the right lengths.
Australia further demoralized the Pakistan attack when it posted a total of 367 before Afghanistan’s top-order batters, led by Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, completely demolished the confidence of Babar’s bowlers when it chased down 283 with ease.
Fielding is the other area where Pakistan has struggled badly, and that hasn’t gone down well with Babar.
“Your focus should be on the ball, not on other thoughts … as a fielder you have to be proactive, (but) we are lagging as a fielding unit,” he said.
Babar is yet to score a century in this World Cup, and his two half-centuries – against India and Afghanistan – both ended up in a losing cause. Bowlers have capitalized on opening batter Imam-ul-Haq’s vulnerability against short-pitched deliveries, while Mohammad Rizwan’s only spark came in the successful run-chase against Sri Lanka.
Afridi hasn’t picked up early wickets, and Rauf has conceded plenty of runs. Pakistan has even tried a combination of both leg-spinners – Usama Mir and Shadab – but they, too, gave away too many boundary balls.
But everything is not lost for Babar.
“It’s cricket, anything can happen,” he said. “We will try to play our best cricket till the end. There are a lot of matches left, we will try to win all the matches. We will try to overcome our mistakes.”