Pakistan suffered an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in Match 22 of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 at Chepauk on Monday (October 23).

Opting to bat first, the Men in Green posted 282/7 on the board on the back of half-centuries from Babar Azam (74) and Abdullah Shafique (58) and crucial cameos from Iftikhar Ahmed (40) and Shadab Khan (40).

In reply, Afghanistan overhauled the target with an over to spare. While Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) and Ibrahim Zadran (87) set the tone with an opening partnership of 130 runs, Rahmat Shah (77*) and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (48*) stayed till the end to finish the job.

After the game, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam defended his team's batting approach, saying that the loss was down to poor execution with the ball and in the field.

“This loss was very hard as a team. The batting and our plan was to total 280-290, and when we achieved that, I think we were not up to the mark in bowling and fielding,” Babar said in the post-match presser.

“You have to bowl well and field well. In the middle overs, the spinners didn't bowl as they should have. They didn't put pressure on them. When you bowl well, and you bowl for 3-4 overs, the pressure comes on the other team.

“I congratulate their team for the way they played. They played outstandingly,” he added.

According to Babar, Pakistani batters did what they embarked on to achieve, only ending about 10-15 runs short.

“I think yes (the target was sufficient), we were maybe 10-15 runs short.

“Against quality spinners, one of the best quality spinners they have, we just tried to play normal cricket until 40 overs and then we had a charge in the last 10 overs. We will do that in the last 10 overs.”

Babar felt the game started to drift when Pakistan’s spinners were unable to apply the same sort of pressure through the middle overs that Afghanistan had.

“Look, when we came here, I saw that the margin of error is very low for bowlers. If you bowl a little bit away from the wicket, you will get hit on that ball. So, we are lacking there a little bit. We are not able to bowl within the stumps.

“And for the spinner, we bowl four good balls and then two balls that we get boundaries or some runs.

“If you bowl consistently at one place, then there will be pressure. So that thing is on one side, and on both sides that thing is missing.”

Babar acknowledged that his side is missing the services of Nassem Shah, who was ruled out of the World Cup due to a shoulder injury.

“We are missing Naseem a lot. But apart from that, our bowling lineup is one of the best, I (just) think we are not able to click.

“Sometimes we do well in bowling, we don't do well in batting. When we do well in batting, we don't do it in fielding.”

The Pakistan captain was also disappointed with his team’s fielding effort, which contributed towards Afghanistan reaching their target with six deliveries remaining.

“In fielding, whenever you do fielding, it is only with attitude. And I don't see any attitude from the team. You need to put in extra effort and be fit.

“You should focus on the ball, not on other thoughts and when the ball comes, as a fielder you have to be proactive so I think we are lagging a little bit as a fielding unit.”

It was Pakistan’s third successive defeat in the showpiece tournament, leaving them with no choice but a very strong finish to secure a place in the semi-final.

Despite the tough task, Babar Azam remains optimistic. “It's cricket. Anything can happen. We will try to play our best cricket till the end. There are a lot of matches left, we will try to win all the matches. We will try to overcome our mistakes.”

“I hope we learn from this loss. It will hurt us a lot. We will try to talk about positive things. But we will also talk about the things we did not do well. How we will do it in the future. Because every match is with a different team.”

“We will have to go with a different planning. We will have to go with a different plan and a different mindset so we will try to bring a positive vibe in the team.”

Pakistan’s next World Cup match is scheduled against South Africa in Chennai on October 27.

(With ICC Inputs)