Daily Times

Pakistan have a tendency to underestimate less established teams at major tournaments, captain Babar Azam said, adding that his side played well below their standard in a shocking defeat to the United States at the Twenty20 World Cup on Thursday.

The U.S. beat Pakistan in a Super Over in Dallas to achieve one of the biggest upsets in Twenty20 World Cup history and secure their second win of the tournament.

This is not the first time that Pakistan have suffered a defeat to lower-ranked opposition in major tournaments, with the 2009 champions losing to Zimbabwe in the 2022 T20 World Cup and Afghanistan at last year’s 50-overs World Cup.

“Whenever you come into any tournament, you always do the best preparation,” Babar told reporters after the defeat.

“But you can say it’s a kind of mindset, when you come up against a team like this, you relax a little. You take things a little lightly.

“If you don’t execute your plan against any team, then whatever team it is, they will beat you. I believe that we are not up to the mark in executing. We are doing well in preparation, but in the match, we are not executing our plans as a team.”

Babar also lamented his side’s failure to take wickets in the first half of the U.S. innings, with an early 68-run partnership between Mohank Patel and Andries Gous proving vital in the host nation’s chase.

“We are not playing good in all three departments,” Babar said.

“We are better than that in the bowling, we aren’t taking wickets in the first six overs. In the middle overs, if your spinner is not taking wickets then pressure is on us. “But I think the way they finished the game in the super overs, credit to the U.S. team.” Pakistan next face arch rivals India in a blockbuster game in New York on Sunday.