Pakistan captain Babar Azam said that the turning point of the match was Hassan Ali's lapse of dropping Matthew Wade's catch, which resulted in his team’s five-wicket loss to Australia in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final on Thursday (November 11) in Dubai.
Ali dropping Wade (41* off just 17 balls) probably turned the semifinal decisively in favor of Australia and Babar also admitted that it was the turning point of the game, as Pakistan’s dream run in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 came to an abrupt end with a 5-wicket defeat in Dubai.
With Australia needing 22 off the final two overs of the match, Hassan dropped a not so difficult catch at the mid-wicket boundary in the third ball of the penultimate over bowled by Shaheen Afridi and it made things worst for Pakistan, as Wade hit 3 consecutive sixes to take his team over the line with 6 balls to spare.
After Pakistan’s hopes of making it to the T20 World Cup 2021 final ended, Azam expressed his disappointment but said he is satisfied as captain with his team’s show in the tournament and hopes to correct the mistakes in the next tournament.
Azam said during the post-match presentation: “I thought we scored as many runs as we had planned in the first innings. I think if we give such teams a chance in the back end, it is going to be costly. The turning point was that dropped catch. Had we taken it, the scenario could have been different. The way we gelled and played the entire tournament, I am satisfied as a captain.”
He signed off by saying, “Hopefully, we'll learn from this for the next tournament. When you play so well throughout, there were small mistakes, which cost us the match in the end. We gave players roles and they executed it really well. The way the crowds supported us, we enjoyed a lot as a team. We always enjoy playing here.”
Australia and New Zealand will now fight for the T20 World Cup 2021 trophy in the summit clash on Sunday, November 14, at the Dubai International Stadium, UAE.
(With ANI Inputs)
