Pakistan’s T20 World Cup 2021 campaign came to an end on Thursday (November 11) as they suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Australia in the second semi-final at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Having won all their five games in the Super 12 stage, Pakistan were expected to get the better of Australia in the semi-final but they lost the high-scoring thriller by five wickets.
Two days after the game, Pakistan’s batting consultant at the T20 World Cup, Matthew Hayden, revealed that Babar Azam and company were “completely devastated” by the loss.
“The scenes in dressing room, it didn’t shock me when you do play with your heart. Just how heart gets broken when you go into a match with expectations and it doesn’t come off due to a number of different reasons,” Hayden told bowling coach Vernon Philander in a video posted by PCB on Twitter.
“Your heart is broken that’s what really you saw in the dressing room, just scenes of complete devastation.”
Pakistan had qualified for the semi-final on the back of five consecutive wins in the Super 12 phase. They thrashed arch-rivals India for the first time in World Cup events to open their campaign before defeating New Zealand, Afghanistan, Oman, and Scotland.
Hayden said he saw a different Pakistani team during the thumping victory over India.
“Going right back to the first match against India, from an outsider’s perspective, looking at that change room the scene was entirely different, very calm, very relaxed and very balanced approach. It was such a huge match.”
According to Philander, Pakistan players failed to hold their nerves in the semi-final.
“If we are brutally honest to ourselves, I think the moment got to us a little bit. Probably a little bit of panic set in, especially in fielding. It’s one area that we highlighted, it could harm us. And It cost us a little bit in semifinal,” he said.
“The calmness factor was probably missing in the semifinals. You need to perform at the key moments,” added the former Protea pacer.
Hayden showered rich praise on Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Asif Ali, and Shaheen Afridi for their exploits in the showpiece tournament.
“Our batters were just brilliant in this tournament. In particular, inside the powerplay, Rizzi (Rizwan) and Babar, those two set the platform every match. In T20 cricket, you have to dominate powerplay.
“The balance of power at the death is very key, in particular, I think that 17th over throughout the tournament from the batting sense, we’re pretty good there. Someone like Asif (Ali) coming and smashing,” Hayden said.
“Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled two magic balls against India early on and in the semifinals he trapped Aaron Finch.”
Philander hailed Shaheen Afridi as “world class performer”, but picked Haris Rauf over him as Pakistan’s standout fast bowler.
“Haris (Rauf) is the one for me that stands out. Shaheen is of course a world-class performer. But, in terms of maturity, Haris is the one that stands out for me,” he said.
Both Hayden and Philander urged the Pakistani fans to support the current team.
“As fans, guys you’ve got to stick with this generation of Pakistani cricketers because they bleed for you guys and they really want to make sure that you are proud and I am hoping that’s what you are,” said Hayden.
“Stick behind this team and hopefully they can go and win the trophies and tournaments in the recent future,” Philander added.
(With PTI inputs)
