Pakistan was out of the World Cup due to 3 reasons… Salman Agha got angry after the defeat from Sri Lanka, told where the mistake happened

New Delhi. Pakistan captain Salman Ali Aga spoke openly on the team’s performance, shortcomings and future challenges after being out of the T20 World Cup. Despite the thrilling victory against Sri Lanka, the pain of being out of the race for the semi-finals was clearly reflected in Agha’s statements. He cited toss, dew and middle order failure as the main reasons for the defeat. A brilliant innings from captain Dasun Shanaka (76 not out) could not save Sri Lanka from a narrow five-run defeat but it knocked Pakistan out of the World Cup on Saturday, sending New Zealand into the semi-finals along with Group 2-topper England.

After the defeat to Sri Lanka, captain Salman Agha admitted that losing the toss in the conditions of Pallekele was costly for him. He said, ‘Things became challenging from the time I lost the toss because dew was a big factor. The pitch was very good and restricting the opposition to under 148 runs (for semi-final qualification) was always going to be a tough challenge. Salman admitted that if the toss had been in his favour, the story could have been different.

Spinners and bowling failure
Pakistan’s spinners had played brilliantly throughout the tournament, but they failed in the important match against Sri Lanka. Aga said, ‘The dew definitely spoiled the plans. We were not able to implement our strategies as we wanted. Usman Khan had a bad day today, but this happens in T20. He has been exceptional so far.

Chronic disease of middle order Pakistan
Talking about batting, Salman Aga praised Sahibzada Farhan, who scored two centuries in this World Cup. However, he also gave class to the other batsmen. According to Aga, ‘Batting was a matter of concern throughout the tournament. Sahibzada Farhan batted exceptionally, but if he had got a little more support from the middle order, the result would have been different. Our middle order has been a problem for the last few years, we have to sit down and work seriously on it.

Finishing and future plans
Salma Agha expressed disappointment at losing wickets in the last overs of the innings. Pakistan scored only 14 runs after losing 5 wickets in the last two overs. The captain said, ‘If we had added 10-15 more runs in the last two overs, the game could have changed.’ In the end he stressed that now Pakistan cricket needs to make radical changes and think deeply in its middle order department.