Asia Cup 2022: It would be nicer if we made lesser mistakes – Babar Azam

Pakistan captain Babar Azam rued the fact that they made mistakes in the all-important final against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Azam won the toss and decided to bowl first, which gave them an early advantage but Pakistan went on to lose by 23 runs.

Pakistan started well and Sri Lanka found themselves tottering at 58-5 after nine overs. Bhanuka Rajapaksa went on to score a match-winning knock of 71 runs off just 45 balls to help his team post 170 runs on the board.

However, the left-hander was dropped twice by Pakistan. Shadab Khan, who is Pakistan’s best fielder, dropped two catches, which cost his team big. The southpaw was on 46 runs when Shadab Khan dropped the first catch and he went on to score 21 more valuable runs for his team.

Azam admitted they were not up to the mark in the field and thus they gave away 15-20 runs extra in the end, which made a huge difference in the end.

Babar Azam said in the post-match presentation, “Congratulations to Sri Lanka for playing outstanding cricket. We dominated them for the first eight overs, but the partnership that Rajapaksa got was amazing. 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. A lot of positives for us to take. In 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. Ups and downs will be there, but it would be nicer if we made lesser mistakes.”

On the other hand, Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals and it led to their downfall. Mohammad Rizwan scored 55 runs while Iftikhar Ahmed added 32 runs but the rest of the Pakistan batters failed to get going.

Pramod Madhushan and Wanindu Hasaranga scalped four and three wickets respectively and they were able to put Sri Lanka in front in the second innings.