Pakistan skipper Babar Azam discussed what went wrong for his team in the finals of the Asia Cup 2022 on Sunday (September 11). The Men in Green's dreams of winning the tournament for the third time were shattered as Sri Lanka defeated them by 23 runs.
Babar said that although his team had the upper hand in the first eight overs of the game, the side leaked 15-20 additional runs in the slog overs. He also rued his team's batting performance.
"Congratulations to Sri Lanka for playing outstanding cricket. We dominated them for the first eight overs, but the partnership that Rajapaksa got was amazing," he said in the post-match presentation.
"This was a true wicket and it is always nice playing in Dubai. We didn't bat according to our potential. We started well, but we gave away 15-20 extra runs and couldn't finish well," he further added.
Babar Azam continued by remarking that Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, and Mohammad Nawaz were the biggest positives throughout the tournament.
"A lot of positives for us to take. In a final, the margin for mistakes is lesser. Our fielding wasn't up to the mark and the batting couldn't finish it off well. But Rizwan, Naseem, and Nawaz were positives," said Babar.
The 27-year-old also hoped to make fewer mistakes in the future.
"Ups and downs will be there, but it would be nicer if we made lesser mistakes," he concluded.
Sri Lanka, after being put in to bat first, posted a challenging total of 171 on the back of Bhanuka Rajapaksha’s heroics (71* off just 45 balls).
In reply, the Men in Green were bundled out for 147 despite Rizwan’s half-century (55 off 49 balls).
Rajapaksha received the Player of the Match award, and Wanindu Hasranga received the Player of the Tournament award for collecting 9 wickets in 6 games.
(STAR SPORTS INPUTS)
