Apart from a quality bowling unit, Babar Azam's consistency with the bat has been among the major reasons behind Pakistan's recent success in the T20Is. And so once he failed, the rest of the team's batting line-up was left shockingly exposed, reiterated head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq after going down 2-0 in the T20I series versus Sri Lanka in Lahore on Monday (October 7). 

Pakistan has suffered losses by huge margins of 64 and 35 runs, respectively, to a second-string Sri Lankan side at home with Babar falling off cheaply on both occasions. 

"We became number one in T20Is but if you dig deeper, our only strength was Babar Azam’s runs and he didn’t score in two games and we’ve been exposed. I think we need to find six match-winners, not one," Misbah was quoted as saying by IANS. 

“Until you don’t have that powerhouse in the middle-order and a powerhouse at the top-order for the powerplay, you can’t do well."

"Similarly in the bowling powerplay if you can’t get wickets and then in the death overs you can’t finish well, you struggle and I think we have failed in all departments," the former skipper added. 

"It’s an eye opener. We need to look at these things. If we were doing well, we couldn’t do that here. Our strong points didn’t deliver. We need to find other players, how long can you rely on one or two batsmen?"

Misbah was quick to own up the responsibility for the series defeat and said he'll strive to find solutions for the team's longstanding issues just one year prior to the T20 World Cup in Australia. 

"You are seeing problems with the team and I am also seeing them. We need to resolve these. It’s not something that can be fixed overnight. It takes some time to fix these things," he said. 

"Obviously I am answerable but to make a team, you need some time and to do that, you do some experiments. Only then do you get the answers to your questions. A lot of things are in front of us and we need to find solutions."

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The decision to bring back Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad has also been under the scanner but Misbah justified the move saying they've done well at the domestic level and deserve another opportunity. 

"Shehzad’s performance in PSL was excellent. Akmal’s performance in all formats in domestic cricket was very good. Unfortunately in our circuit, we have no other batsman in T20s who gave performances like these," he said.  

"I think that any player who is out of the team should get a chance again, if he performs. We gave that chance on that basis but they didn’t perform. All we can do is to give them a chance."

(Inputs from IANS)