“Bowling under pressure, under such high intensity, it is not easy,” says Babar Azam

In the dramatic World Cup final between India and Pakistan, Team India needed 16 runs to win, and spinner Mohammad Nawaz bowled the over. In the final, he dismissed Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik, but a waist-high no ball and a couple of wides proved costly, as Pakistan lost by four wickets.

Babar Azam lauded Pakistan’s bowlers during the post-game press conference for their outstanding performance in the first ten overs. He also stated that the great pairing of Virat Kohli and Hardik Panda had swung momentum in India’s favour.

Babar Azam told reporters: “Early on, what the bowlers did in the first 10 overs was outstanding. We have to give credit to Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli for the way they finished the match, the way they shifted the momentum towards India. Basically our plan was to get our main bowler there because we wanted a wicket. Because the way the partnership was building, I felt I could build pressure by bringing on our main bowler”

“If you see, even the last over was tight and it went down to the last ball. You also have to give credit to him Nawaz, bowling under pressure, under such high intensity, it is not easy. This will also be a learning experience for him. Whenever he faces such situations in the future, he’ll try to do better.”

“We could have bowled him earlier but we wanted to take the match deep. There was a possibility that they could have taken the charge against his spin earlier and at that stage we felt taking a wicket would have been better. But they played sensibly, they knew that we had an over left of a spinner. Unfortunately he bowled a no-ball and a wide, and was disappointed with that”

Pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi played well with the ball in the high-pressure game against India, going wicketless and conceding 34 runs. Afridi also gave up 17 runs in the 18th over of the game, with Kohli smacking three fours off the pacer. Babar expressed amazement at the young pacer’s performance in the match when mentioning Afridi.

Babar Azam went on to discuss his choice to give Mohammad Nawaz the last place, stating that he aimed to break the Kohli-Hardik partnership with his pacesetters at MCG. He also stated that Nawaz’s eventual defeat was a learning lesson.

“No, nothing like that – Coming back after a while, returning from an injury, the way he bowled surprised me. The way he showed his aggression, and the way he bowled – he did not get wickets but it takes a bit of time for a bowler to adjust when he returns after a while.”

“Whenever Pakistan-India play matches, there is always extra pressure and you have to overcome it as much as possible. This is why he Kohli is a big player. The pressure was on him early on but he overcame that and the way he built his innings and the partnership, according to me that changed the match.”

“I’ve see him struggle on occasions but the way he has come back and played a big innings, that would have increased his confidence in a big way. Whenever you win such matches, the individual gets big confidence and the mental level goes up.”

Babar went on to say that they will learn from their mistakes in the game against India and come back stronger. He stated: “We are confident, and we will learn from this experience. There were some nice things as well as some blunders. We’ll sit down and discuss it. The tournament has only just begun, and there is still a long way to go. So the sooner we forget about it, the better. We have two matches in a row, and we’ll be ready.”