Hard luck today. Some things went right, lot of things went wrong. I don't mind losing fair and square, that's part of the parcel. But when you literally just throw a winnable game away due to stupid freebies like no-balls and dropped catches it really hurts.
Great on the batters today for playing with a more aggressive powerplay than in previous games, messed up a little in the middle due to the spinners (IMPORTANT POINT) and but good comeback to push it above 170 (last 9 of 10 games at this venue where the batting side posted 175+ first had won the game). No fault on Asif Ali, he did what he had to do with 2 overs left, just fell for the slower one.
We had an amazing opening 3 overs, then the Aussies did brilliantly in the remaining 3 overs of the power play (no fault on bowling, just good Aussie batting). Here's where we messed up big, which was a combination of poor captaincy and bowling, Yes Hafeez bowled a STUPID ball first up which cost us 7 runs, but then came back good and didn't get hit again, he should have gotten one more over. Imad should NOT have been kept on to the left hander Warner, he has very few wickets against left handers. Shadab bowled brilliantly and Imad bowled an amazing 3rd over which only leaked 3 runs. HE SHOULD HAVE finished his last over since obviously spin was very hard to play on this pitch. That would have taken one over off Hasan or Harris, and more if Hafeez had bowled more. Babar tried to play it real safe and keep pacers on. Even then, from the last 4-5 games. it is OBVIOUS Hasan CANNOT BOWL in the death overs. He started off well in his first over and should have bowled out earlier. Once you''re past the 15 over mark he loses his mind, no balls after no balls and stupid slow short pitched bowling which all got hit for boundaries. But Babar being a new captain obviously these things will take time. Even after all that, the game could have been won if that catch of Wade was taken.
But in the end, a great tournament and run, of course with the first game being the biggest highlight
. A much better team dynamic than before, and the great news is the next WT20 is only less than a year away in 2022. Lot of hope next time around!