Pakistan team mentor Matthew Hayden has applauded Babar Azam and Co. after a five-wicket loss to England in the T20 World Cup 2022 final. He also encouraged the Men in Green and believes that they have the potential to lift the trophy one day.
Despite their best efforts, Pakistan faced a five-wicket defeat at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday. After losing the toss, they only managed 137 in 20 overs on the board. Although their pace attack did quite well, England managed to survive that to take the team home with five wickets and an over to spare as well.
Speaking in a video uploaded to Twitter by the official PCB account, Matthew Hayden shared that his perception has not changed about Pakistan winning the World Cup as they have learnt a lot.
Setting his sights on the 2023 World Cup in India, the veteran said: “I just want to say on behalf of the support staff that we feel very privileged and honoured to be a part of that story. Take it back a month ago, when you all shared a meal at my house. I said that I was confident that you are going to lift the World Cup. Now that has not changed, nothing’s changed, I am still confident that this group of young men can lift the World Cup.”
“And I am confident that, we have also some clarity on how to move forward from this tournament. How to celebrate some great performances and how to acknowledge some of the weaknesses that we have had in the last month. Come the World Cup in India, again, we will be celebrating getting somewhere near the World Cup. It is amazing how far we have come in the tournament,” Matthew Hayden continued.
However, Pakistan had a topsy-turvy World Cup campaign, starting with two consecutive defeats against India and Zimbabwe. They beat the Netherlands and South Africa convincingly but had to wait and when the Dutch upset the Proteas, they reached the top four.
However, Hayden also acknowledged how the players would be feeling after losing the final but reminded them to stick together through thick and thin.
“I know that you are going to be hurting, I know, it does hurt, but the reality is that we are so close. Such an important part of these last parts has been sharing time together. We have talked as men about what the future looked like and bang bang bang, results happened. So, guys, I am really proud of you. Thank you for sharing your inner sanctum with me and I hope that I have been able to share my heart and my story of cricket with you guys as well, and I am always honoured,” Matthew Hayden concluded.
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