Former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir said that reaching the T20 World Cup final was an achievement, as the team didn’t deserve to be there as well. Amir also said that he knew the Pakistan batters would struggle a lot once they moved out of Sydney. However, Pakistan’s batting line-up struggled to post a match-winning total against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday. Shan Masood top-scored with 38 off 32 as they managed only 137.
Their bowlers tried their best but England won the game by five wickets. Speaking to 24 News, Amir said that Pakistan didn’t reach the final due to their own performance and he wasn’t surprised at all to see their batters struggle.
He said, “The fact that we played in the final is a big thing. We didn’t deserve to play in the final. The whole world knows how we advanced to the final. Allah helped us reach there. You will get to know the results if you look at the performance of our batters.”
He further added: “Once we got out of Sydney, it was given that this would happen. I told you earlier that if the pitch at MCG is the same as it was in the first match, Pakistan will struggle, and we did. After winning the toss, we got off to a good start, and we knew how the conditions were.”
However, Pakistan had a moderate World Cup campaign, starting with defeats against India and Zimbabwe. But they bounced back well soon after. They beat the Netherlands and South Africa convincingly but still faced an uncertain way to the semifinals. With the Netherlands beating South Africa, Pakistan beat Bangladesh to reach the knockouts, where they beat New Zealand in the last four and reached the final as well.
Mohammad Amir also slammed Mohammad Haris for trying to smash Adil Rashid over the top early in his innings as well. The former bowler further added that new batters struggle to adapt to the track. And, he lauded Ben Stokes for a match-winning inning for England.
“We talked about Haris and his intent. But along with intent, you also need to have sense. On the first ball, he faced off Adil Rashid, he tried to come down the track. On these pitches, you can’t leave it to someone else. The new batter will struggle. Ben Stokes showed that experience and game awareness,” Mohammad Amir concluded.
However, England lost three wickets in the powerplay, but Stokes stayed unbeaten on 52 off 49, guiding the team to the finish line as well.
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