Last over setback a learning experience for Nawaz – Babar

Babar Azam came to the defence of his bowlers after a thrilling finish to the India-Pakistan game which went down to the final delivery. Chasing 160 for victory, India fared better in the game of pressure to register their first points from Group 2 in the Super 12 stage.

A 113-run fifth wicket stand involving Virat Kohli (82* off 53) and Hardik Pandya (40 off 37) brought India back into the game after they slipped to 31 for 4. Mohammad Nawaz, the left-arm spinner, ended up bowling the final over and conceded 16, but Babar came to his defence and also said the spinner was kept until the end as he felt the need to end the Kohli-Pandya association with his pace bowlers.

“Early on, what the bowlers did in the first 10 overs was outstanding. We have to give credit to Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli for the way they finished the match, the way they shifted the momentum towards India. Basically our plan was to get our main bowler there because we wanted a wicket. Because the way the partnership was building, I felt I could build pressure by bringing on our main bowler,” Babar said at the press conference on Sunday (October 23).

With 16 needed in the final over, Nawaz, who resorted to medium pace, bagged the wicket off Pandya off his first delivery. However, a waist-high no-ball that was hit for a six, a free-hit that struck the wicket and resulted in three runs, and a wide delivery that levelled the scores, worked in India’s favour.

“If you see, even the last over was tight and it went down to the last ball. You also have to give credit to him [Nawaz], bowling under pressure, under such high intensity, it is not easy. This will also be a learning experience for him. Whenever he faces such situations in the future, he’ll try to do better.

“We could have bowled him earlier but we wanted to take the match deep. There was a possibility that they could have taken the charge against his spin earlier and at that stage we felt taking a wicket would have been better. But they played sensibly, they knew that we had an over left of a spinner. Unfortunately he bowled a no-ball and a wide, and was disappointed with that,” the Pakistan captain added.

India were 112 for 4 at the end of the 17th over, needing 48 more, when Afridi was brought back on for his final over. He ended up conceding 17, with Kohli striking three sixes off the left-armer.

“No, nothing like that,” said Babar when asked if Afridi was partly to blame for the loss. “Coming back after a while, returning from an injury, the way he bowled surprised me. The way he showed his aggression, and the way he bowled – he did not get wickets but it takes a bit of time for a bowler to adjust when he returns after a while.”

The Pakistan captain also credited Kohli for being able to absorb the pressure to play a match-winning innings. “Whenever Pakistan-India play matches, there is always extra pressure and you have to overcome it as much as possible. This is why he [Kohli] is a big player. The pressure was on him early on but he overcame that and the way he built his innings and the partnership, according to me that changed the match.

“I’ve see him struggle on occasions but the way he has come back and played a big innings, that would have increased his confidence in a big way. Whenever you win such matches, the individual gets big confidence and the mental level goes up,” he said.

Despite the setback in the campaign, Babar vowed that Pakistan will come back strongly in the upcoming matches. “We are confident and we will learn from this. there were some good things and some mistakes too. We’ll sit down and talk about this. The tournament has only started and there is a long way to go in the tournament. So the sooner we forget it, it’ll be better for us. We have back to back matches and we’ll be prepared for them.”