Salman Ali Agha expressed disappointment after Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The Men in Green secured a narrow five-run win over Sri Lanka in the Super Eight stage on February 28 in Pallekele, but it was not enough to book a semi-final spot.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Agha pointed out that dew played a major role. He also admitted that apart from Sahibzada Farhan, the rest of the batters struggled, especially the middle order.
He said: “But yeah, I think dew was a factor. I think we couldn’t bat well throughout the tournament. It was only Sahibzada Farhan, he batted exceptionally well. And during that period, if anyone could have helped him a bit more, could have been a different story. But yeah, the batting was always concerned throughout the tournament.”
“Especially middle order. The middle order has been a problem for us for like a few years now. We need to sit down and obviously definitely want to look at that department as well. Missed quite a few runs in the last two overs, you know, 14 runs in the last two overs for the loss of five wickets. Yeah, we couldn’t finish the way we wanted to finish,” he added.
Farhan and Fakhar Zaman put on a 176-run opening stand off 95 balls to power Pakistan to 212/8. Farhan smashed a century off 60 balls, including nine fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 166.67, while Fakhar made 84 off 42 balls.
For qualification, Pakistan needed to restrict Sri Lanka to 147 or less. However, Dasun Shanaka (76 off 31) and Pavan Rathnayake (58 off 37) guided Sri Lanka to 207/6, falling short by five runs. As a result, Pakistan were knocked out, while New Zealand and England progressed from Super Eight Group 2.
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