Azhar Mahmood acknowledges the team’s ‘low morale’ after the India loss

NEW YORK: Pakistan cricket team assistant coach Azhar Mahmood has acknowledged that the Green Shirts’ morale has slumped after their defeat to arch-rivals India.

Speaking at a pre-match press conference ahead of the team’s must-win match against Canada, Mahmood said: “After two defeats, everyone is quite discouraged.”

He further acknowledged that losing to India is more disappointing than their embarrassing defeat to the United States.

His comments came after the Babar Azam-led team was defeated consecutively by India and USA, a relatively new side who defeated the Men in Green after a five-run win in the Super Over.

However, the setback was followed by a disappointing defeat to India, where the Green Shirts failed to chase down a modest target of 120 points, losing by six points.

After the defeat to India, the Babar-led team is now heavily dependent on not only winning their next two matches – against Ireland and Canada – but also the US losing to India and Ireland.

Even if Pakistan were to win their next matches, they would still need to have a better net run rate than the US to secure a place in the Super Eight stage.

Elaborating on how the players are doing, Mahmood said: “Right now, the morale of everyone in the team is low. It is necessary to boost it because we can still recover and we will not lose hope until it’s over.”

He further blamed the national team batters for poor shot selection for the defeat against India.

“Our shot selection was wrong which led to a run rate of 10. We played well till the 15th over. We lost as a team and cannot blame individuals,” he insisted.

It should be noted that the Men in Green will play an important match against Canada today at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York as their T20 World Cup journey is on thin ice.

The team must win both of its upcoming high-stakes group matches to stay in the tournament. Furthermore, their World Cup chances are tied to the United States losing both games against India and Ireland.