Rizwan after India loss: 'We can say for now that it is over'
Pakistan captain admits the Champions Trophy’s defending champions are all but out of the race, with their hopes now lying in many other results going their way
ESPNcricinfo staff23-Feb-20251:31
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Mohammad Rizwan has accepted that Pakistan are all but out of their own Champions Trophy after a chastening six-wicket loss to India in Dubai to follow their 60-run loss in the opening game against New Zealand.The defending champions only have a game against Bangladesh left and are left relying on other results in the group to sneak them through to the last four. That is a situation Pakistan have found themselves in regularly in recent tournaments – though this one looks less likely to happen – and it is one Rizwan does not much care for.”We can say for now that it is over – that is the truth,” Rizwan said after the game. “We’ll see what Bangladesh does with New Zealand, then New Zealand with India, and then what we do. It’s a long road and it depends on other teams.Related
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“As a captain, I don’t like depending on others. If you are good enough, you show it by winning and keeping things in your hands. Waiting on other teams, I don’t like worrying about their results. What matters is that India and New Zealand beat us. They played strong cricket and we didn’t play well. If we get a chance [to sneak through] then so be it.”Rizwan acknowledged the side would have to face difficult questions about their performances here. Their exit is confirmed if New Zealand beat Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Monday and, if so, will mark the third ICC white-ball tournament in a row in which Pakistan have exited before the knockouts.Rizwan, who took over as the white-ball captain late last year and led the side to bilateral ODI series wins in Australia and South Africa, was frustrated by his side making the same mistakes they have made in their recent losses – in a tri-series involving New Zealand and South Africa and then their opening game here.His own innings today – a 77-ball 46 – will come under scrutiny much in the way that Babar Azam’s innings in the opening loss did. It was far more inert until a late acceleration, but his dismissal was one of three quick wickets in the middle which robbed Pakistan of whatever momentum they had built.”When you lose, you’re obviously disappointed and it’s a difficult time, difficult questions come up,” he said. “We made mistakes in all three departments, that is why we lost today.”In our team meeting yesterday, we had said we’ll target 270-280 on this, given the outfield was slow, the pitch was slow. If we’d got 280, the result might have been different. Saud [Shakeel] and I started building up a partnership, over which we took some time, but after that our shot selection was poor. That gave them a chance to take wickets and put pressure on our middle order. They built on it, and we couldn’t stabilise ourselves.”We made mistakes we’ve been making in the last few matches. These aren’t new mistakes. We’ve been making them in the last four games. We work on them, but we are humans, our players are humans, these mistakes happen. We’re trying to work on those, we’re trying to put the effort in to resolve those. What I believe is that India’s effort was greater than us, they were braver than us. That is why they got the result. We made mistakes, maybe because when we had to show bravery in some moments we didn’t show enough. In our fielding we needed to show more energy, but maybe we were lacking in that, and so made mistakes.”Mohammad Rizwan: ‘We made mistakes in all three departments, that is why we lost today’•ICC/Getty Images
In one sense, the limitations of Pakistan’s batting had been impacted twice over before the tournament had even begun in earnest. Saim Ayub’s fractured ankle robbed them of a young, modern and in-form opener and then, two balls into their opening game, they effectively lost Fakhar Zaman, their other opener capable of quick starts.Rizwan lamented the loss of both, especially Ayub who provided a spin-bowling option as well. It left Pakistan reliant on Imam-ul-Haq in this game, an opener with a vastly different skillset.Similarly, the presence of only one specialist spinner in the squad – Abrar Ahmed – has been questioned through the tri-series and this tournament’s two games. Rizwan said, however, that they couldn’t have brought in another specialist, despite Abrar being their best bowler across the two games.”In ODIs you can’t have five genuine bowlers. Naseem [Shah], Shaheen [Afridi], Haris [Rauf], Abrar. The fifth, you see New Zealand have [Mitchell] Santner and [Michael] Bracewell, India have [Ravindra] Jadeja and [Axar] Patel. The best we had, the selectors picked them – Salman Agha and Khushdil Shah. If we go with two genuine spinners, that means we are going with five bowlers and six batters and we can’t make a combo of that. So yeah, there will be questions about having another spinner, but you can’t go in with five genuine bowlers in an ODI. Maybe in a T20.”