‘Intent Missing’ - Imad Wasim Takes 'Direct' Dig At Babar, Rizwan After Pakistan’s Loss To ENG
Babar Azam and Imad Wasim during Pakistan's earlier T20Is (ICC)
Pakistan, under the leadership of Babar Azam, suffered a 23-run defeat against England on Saturday (May 25) in the second T20I of the four-match series at Edgbaston. The Men in Green lost all ten wickets for 160 after coming to chase a challenging target of 184.
After Jos Buttler's stupendous 51-ball 84, England were on the charge from the get-go after coming to defend the total. To make matters worse, Babar Azam failed to lead by example, scoring at a below-par strike rate of 123.08 while managing 32 runs off 27 balls.
Following the match, Imad Wasim, who recently returned to Pakistan's squad for the T20 World Cup 2024, kept his thoughts honest while speaking to reporters. In fact, Imad pointed out that they should have got an ideal start, which Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam failed to deliver.
“I agree that the intent which we need is still missing, especially in the middle overs where we need to dominate, and dominating over the opponent doesn’t mean you start playing aggressively – you just need to disallow the bowler from settling with the line,” Imad said, as quoted by cricketpakistan.com.pk.
In addition, Imad also highlighted their regular wicket losing at quick successions, which did not allow them to shift their gears.
“At a point, Iftikhar and I were at the crease and we were looking to cross the line but we lost our wickets at crucial stages, if we had stayed, we would have crossed the line,” he added.
England and Pakistan will take on each other again at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on May 28.