Pakistan captain Babar Azam was ecstatic after his team defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets in the last league match of the tri-series on Thursday to set up a final against hosts New Zealand.
The Men in Green chased down a 174-run target in Christchurch, with Mohammad Rizwan scoring a valiant 69 and Babar Azam making 55 runs, adding 101 runs for the first wicket.
Mohammad Nawaz then provided a much-needed boost for Pakistan amid their middle-order crisis, as the all-rounder, coming at no.4 in the run-chase, made 45* in 20 balls to steer the side to victory.
The Pakistani team has been under criticism for their inconsistency after losing the final of the Asia Cup in UAE and the T20I series to England 3-4 at home. Even in the ongoing tri-series, Pakistan had conceded a defeat to New Zealand earlier.
Fingers have been pointed at Babar Azam’s captaincy as well, and during the post-match press conference, a journalist asked the Pakistan skipper about the criticism, and also named a fellow journalist named Aftab Iqbal, who criticized his leadership and captaincy.
But Babar was ready with a straightforward reply, saying he didn’t know which journalist he was talking about.
He said: “I don't know aap kiski baat kar rahe hain. Jiska naam liya hai main unko jaanta bhi nahi. Ye cheezein chalti hain, achha bhi karte hain toh bhi chalti hai. But ham log bother nahi karte, koshish karte hain ki jitna confidence team ko diya jaaye, aur jitna unity bani hui hai usko chalaate rahein (I don't know who you are talking about. These things happen, even when we perform well, it happens. But we don't bother, we just try to keep team's confidence and unity intact).”
“Koshish ye hi rehti hai ki ham apna 100 percent de aur jeetein. Kabhi kabhi ham to the mark nahi hote, par ham discussion karte hain aur sochte hain ki kahan ham achha kar sakte hain. (We try to give our 100 percent and win. Sometimes, we are not up to the mark, but we discuss and plan about things where we can improve),” he further stated.
Here is the video of the same:
New Zealand and Pakistan will play the final match on October 14 in Christchurch.
