You can't lose as many wickets as we are losing: Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten

Pakistan failed to chase down a target of 120 against India in New York on June 9 (Sunday) and head coach Gary Kirsten admitted that the batting unit put themselves under needless pressure. The Men in Green were 72/2 at the end of 12 overs, with Mohammad Rizwan (44-ball 31) and Fakhar Zaman (8-ball 13) out in the middle.

However, the two were dismissed in the space of 12 deliveries and that brought India back into the contest. Pakistan’s lower middle-order succumbed to the pressure and ended up falling short by six runs. Pakistan have now lost their first two games of the 2024 T20 World Cup and will have to rely on other results to qualify for the Super 8s.

“These guys are all international players and they're aware that when they're not performing at their best that there's going to be pressure put on them. That's understandable, but a lot of these guys have played a lot of T20 cricket around the world over many, many years and it's really up to them to decide how they're going to take their games forward,” said Kirsten.

“I've only been here a handful of days. I'm having a look into the environment and looking at what the issues are. I look at these players, I've watched them play many, many years on TV and kind of getting to know them, they're fantastic guys. They're playing for their country, so they really are pumped. There are a lot of very disappointed guys in the changing room now. 

“I think for me the most important thing for every international player is that you continue growing and developing as a player and understanding what the demands of international competition are. The game is changing pretty much every year. So, if you're not up to it and you're not improving, you're going to get found out somewhere.”

Talking about the New York surface, the former South African batter added: “I think it wasn't dangerous by any stretch. I mean the odd one rose up sharply but not many. It generally kept a little bit lower. I think we were able to score for both batting sides and also a fairly slow outfield, so it was never going to be a big total. 

“I would have said 140 would have been a really good score on that pitch. India didn't get that so I thought we had the game. We knew it was going to be tight but sometimes it's fun seeing games like that as well. It's not always about sixes and hitting, getting 230s and 240s. You can actually have a really entertaining game on a 120 chase. I don't think it's bad for the game.”

The downfall started with Hardik Pandya dismissing Fakhar Zaman. Rizwan, for some reason, tried to slog Jasprit Bumrah and ended up getting knocked over. Imad Wasim did stick around for a while but his 15 off 23 did no good for Pakistan. 

“The message from all of us was to look for the odd boundary, try and capitalise on the loose balls and make sure that you can get as many ones as you can through the innings And I thought we did that brilliantly for 15 overs. We kept it at a run a ball, and then we lost wickets and then we stopped scoring ones and then we were looking for boundaries and once you've got to that point it was always going to be hard.”

The batters disappointed but Pakistan’s bowling unit was on fire against India. The Men in Blue were 89/3 at one stage but lost their last seven wickets for just 30 runs. Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf picked up three wickets each, while Mohammad Amir also got two. 

“I was very excited by the bowling performance. Got better and better and we've tracked their stats over the last 15 odd games, and they've been an incredible bowling unit from overs 10 to 20 and we did that again today - I think our record between overs 10 to 20 as a bowling unit is up there with the best,” said Kirsten.

“We've got four fantastic seamers and Imad Wasim I thought bowled really well today as well. We’ve got some nice options on the ball with the team and I think we're going to be a difficult team to bat against if we bowl like that. So that's a positive going forward. Obviously, there's a concern around how we can put our innings together and structure it. 

“We did really nicely in the last game against USA where Shadab Khan and Babar put on a partnership of 70 when we were 26 for 3. But period, we're losing too many wickets. As a batting unit, you can't lose as many wickets as we are losing. Players have got to take responsibility when that opportunity comes.”

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