Babar said he was particularly disappointed with his bowlers’ inability to take wickets in the middle overs and his fielders not being focused and active.
“Yes, the loss hurts us a lot,” Babar said after the game. “We wanted to score around 280-290. After achieving that, we were not good with our bowling and fielding. In the middle overs, the spinners did not bowl the way we wanted.
“We started well in the middle overs, but we needed wickets. The pitch was helping the spinners in the second innings as well. But we, especially our spinners, were not able to bowl on our lengths. We conceded a four in every over. “Applied, that’s why it happened.” There is no pressure on their batsmen.”
While Afghanistan’s spin quartet of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi and Noor Ahmed took 4 wickets for 176 runs in their combined 38 overs on the Chennai pitch, Pakistan’s spinners – Shadab Khan, Usama Mir and Iftikhar Ahmed – No wicket was taken for 131 runs. 21.
According to Babar, Pakistan bowlers had their plans but failed to execute and hence could not create pressure. He also said that the team lacks the fielding department.
“We are not able to click into all departments at the same time,” Babar said. “When we perform well in bowling, we do not perform well in batting. When we perform well in batting, we do not perform so well in fielding.”
“Fielding is completely based on attitude. And I don’t see any attitude in the team. You need to put in extra effort and stay fit. You should focus on the ball, not on other thoughts and when the ball comes to you, So you have to be active as a fielder. I think we lack that a bit as a fielding unit.
“In bowling, we have not been able to execute our plans. When you are not able to bowl the length you want and end up giving away boundaries, your focus becomes on stopping the runs. In such a situation, you Keep making mistakes, and that puts you under pressure.
“Here, the margin of error for the bowlers is very less. If you bowl a little away from the stumps, you get hit. So, we are lacking a little bit there. We are not able to bowl within the stumps. “
“The same applies for spinners. We bowl four good balls and then there are two balls which go for boundaries or runs, because the difference is very small. If you bowl at the same spot continuously , then there will be pressure. So that’s the thing missing.”
“As far as captaincy is concerned, there is not much pressure on me or my batting. I always try to give my best, my 100% while batting. While fielding I think about captaincy and batting. During this time I just think about batting.” .How should I score runs for the team.”