Naseem didn’t make us feel that: Babar on missing Shaheen

Babar Azam said that the debutant Naseem Shah didn’t let the team miss Shaheen Afridi.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam said that the debutant Naseem Shah didn’t let the team miss Shaheen Afridi in the Asia Cup match against India.

“Look, fast bowlers are always pumped up and they are always aggressive. The way he (Naseem Shah) started, albeit we missed Shaheen (Shah Afridi) a lot, but he didn’t make us feel that…the way he bowled with the new ball and at the death was very good,” Babar said in the post-match press conference.

India defeated Pakistan by five wickets in a group match at the Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday, August 28. The victory, however, was earned after the Pakistan fast bowlers, especially Naseem Shah, troubled the Indian top-order.

Naseem Shah, who was playing his first-ever T20I match, gave Pakistan an early breakthrough as he removed KL Rahul for a duck in the very first over. Naseem nearly ensured to see the back of Virat Kohli, but Fakhar Zaman dropped the former India captain at third slip.

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Naseem even brought Pakistan back in match, when he cleaned up Suryakumar Yadav. However, Hardik Pandya maintained his cool to take India home in the last-over thriller.

Shaheen Shah Afridi was ruled out of the Asia Cup due to a knee injury which he suffered while fielding during the Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle recently.

When asked about Pakistan’s batting, Babar said the lack of partnerships in the middle resulted in the poor outing of the team with the bat. He, however, pointed out and praised the fight shown by the tailenders Shahnawaz Dahani and Harris Rauf.

“I think we didn’t have partnerships. If we could build partnerships, then there is pressure on the other team…we just had small partnerships but needed a big one, like over 50 runs. So that we missed. And in the last few overs I think we couldn’t make use of. But the way the tail wagged, like the runs scored by Dahani and Harris was good for a fightback and we fought well after that.”