Pakistan’s captain, Mohammad Rizwan, has acknowledged that their journey in the Champions Trophy has come to an end following a six-wicket loss to India on Sunday. “For now, we can say that it’s over. This is the truth,” Rizwan admitted.
Despite losing their first two league matches, Pakistan’s fate isn’t entirely sealed yet. They require a couple of favorable outcomes from other games before their last league match against Bangladesh on February 27. An immediate necessity is an unlikely victory for Bangladesh over New Zealand on Monday.
Rizwan expressed his discomfort with advancing through less than honorable means. “As a captain, I honestly don’t like this. If you can win, then do it. If you can’t, then don’t worry about it. I don’t care if you’re sitting in someone else’s shadow.”
He further remarked, “I don’t care if you’re outside the tournament or in it. Yes, New Zealand has defeated us; India has defeated us. We accept it. We can play well; we can play badly. We can’t say that we should stay on someone else’s side. Allah has given us this opportunity; we can’t say anything about it.”
On the subject of their future matches, Rizwan stated, “In the next match, we’ll see what Bangladesh does with New Zealand, what New Zealand does with India, and what we do. It’s a long journey. Yes, we have hope and belief in Allah. Our dependence on the Champions Trophy now rests on other teams.” It’s worth noting that Pakistan is the defending champion.
Rizwan defended the team’s decision to field only one specialist spinner, Abrar Ahmed, dismissing any doubts about their strategy. In contrast, India entered the tournament with four spinners, three of whom played on Sunday.
“You can’t say that we made a mistake by picking just one spinner. If you look at the Indian team, they have Kuldeep (Yadav) as their main spinner. (Ravindra) Jadeja and Axar Patel are all-rounders. We also have Salman Ali Agha and Khushdil Shah. They bowled well in the past,” he explained.
The Pakistan skipper also acknowledged the struggles of their middle-order batting. “The middle-order was not good enough. Yesterday, in our meeting, we discussed that on this pitch, 270-280 runs would be enough, given that the outfield and the pitch were slow. If we had scored 280, maybe the results would have been different.”
Rizwan (46) and Saud Shakeel (62) attempted to build a partnership, but once they were separated, the team lost momentum, ultimately being bowled out for 241 after reaching 151 for two at one point. “The shot selection was poor, and that’s where they got a chance to take our wickets. After that, our middle-order couldn’t handle the pressure, and we couldn’t manage,” he lamented.
