Pakistan’s captain, Babar Azam, expressed disappointment with his team’s poor fielding performance that led to a humiliating loss against Afghanistan at the 2023 World Cup in Chennai’s Chidambaram Stadium. Afghanistan comfortably reached Pakistan’s target of 283 runs, thanks to impressive innings from Ibrahim Zadran (87), Rahmat Shah (77 not out), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65), and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (48 not out), securing their second win in the ongoing tournament.
During the post-match press conference, Babar attributed their third consecutive loss in the tournament to subpar performances in both bowling and fielding. He criticized the team’s fielding, noting that the players seemed absent-minded and unsure of what they were doing on the field. Babar acknowledged that the spinners failed to apply enough pressure on the Afghan batters in the middle overs. Despite the challenges, he emphasized that there was no added pressure from his captaincy role and that he kept his responsibilities as captain separate from his personal performance.
Babar admitted that their game plans were not yielding the desired results and were not being implemented effectively. However, he remained committed to winning the remaining matches in the World Cup and congratulated Afghanistan on their historic victory.
In contrast, Afghanistan’s captain, Hashmatullah Shahidi, was in high spirits, describing their win as “nice” and praising the professional manner in which they chased the target. He expressed confidence in their ability to replicate their performance in upcoming matches, mentioning the team’s belief and quality cricket. Shahidi also highlighted the boost in confidence from their win against England and looked forward to future games, aiming to play positive cricket and make their country proud.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan now have two wins and three losses from their five group games, placing them in fifth and sixth positions on the points table, respectively. This victory marked Afghanistan’s first win against Pakistan in one-day internationals (ODIs), with the head-to-head record now standing at 7-1 in favor of Afghanistan.
