Babar Azam hopeful of comeback after humiliating loss

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam asked his teammates to remain calm and confident in a virtual press conference, ahead of their second ODI of the England-Pakistan series happening in Cardiff, England.

The green shirts side faced a thrashed-out defeat in their first ODI against England on the 8th July, in Cardiff. The team was all out on 141 with Fakhar Zaman scoring the highest (47), while the rest of the team did not perform well.

The Stokes-led side took the advantage of the moment and finished off the game easily.
When the skipper was asked for a Plan B, he stated that,

“I have confidence in every Pakistani present in the camp, I will sit with them and firstly tell them aapne Ghabrana Nahi hai (Don’t lose hope) and then will ask them to focus on their mistakes and work on it”.

We don’t have much time; the sooner each one of us realizes our mistakes, the better it will be, said Babar.

A B-squad England thrashed Pakistan by nine wickets in the first ODI at Cardiff on Thursday to take a 1-0 lead in a three-match series.

Pakistan set just 142 runs for victory, a complete newbie England XI after a coronavirus outbreak within the originally selected squad, finished on 142-1 with more than 28 overs remaining.

Dawid Malan was 68 not out and Zak Crawley 58 not out, the pair sharing an unbroken stand of 120.

Only opening batsman Fakhar Zaman, with 47, and Shadab Khan (30) offered little help in the first of this three-match series.

And when World Cup-winner Stokes caught Shaheen Shah Afridi to end the innings, Pakistan had more than 14 overs left to bat.

In addition, England was also missing fast bowlers Jofra Archer and Olly Stone and wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler because of injury.