Captain Azhar Ali, who has been criticized due to the national team’s 0-1 defeat and poor form in the Test series against England, has said that despite the criticism, he never thought of leaving the Test team leadership.
The national team dominated most of the first match of the series against England in Manchester, but a memorable 139-run partnership between Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes for the sixth wicket saw Pakistan lose the match by 3 wickets.
This victory for the hosts proved to be decisive in the series as the remaining two matches of the series played in Southampton were drawn due to rain and England won the series 0–1.
Among the critics of the defeat in the first Test match was former national team captain Wasim Akram, who believed that Azhar Ali’s poor leadership and excessive defensive tactics allowed Jos Buttler and Volks to play big innings in Manchester. He was able to lead his team to victory.
When Azhar Ali was asked about stepping down as captain in an online press conference, he said, “It was a tough time when we lost the first Test match and everyone blamed me completely for the defeat.”
“It was not an easy time but I just focused on how we can change the direction of the series with my individual performance and the team’s performance. It never crossed my mind to give up the leadership,” he said.
After playing an average innings of zero, 18 and 20 runs in the first two Test matches, Azhar Ali was able to play an unbeaten innings of 141 runs in the third Test match, but despite this innings, Pakistan could not avoid the follow-on.
Azhar said that we had to bear the brunt of the defeat in the first Test match, if we had won that Test match, we would have been sitting here as series winners.
“The frustration will continue as we missed a rare chance and credit goes to England who played well under pressure,” he said.
After the end of the Test series, both the teams will compete in the 3-match T20 series from Friday.
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2024-08-31 04:37:11
