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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Azhar takes responsibility of defeat, credits Woakes, Buttler

By Our Correspondent
August 10, 2020

LAHORE: Captain Azhar Ali taking the responsibility of the defeat in the first Test match of the England series has said that the partnership between Woakes and Buttler took the match away from Pakistan.

Speaking at an online press conference after the defeat in the Manchester Test, Azhar said that the credit for the victory must be given to the partnership of Chris Woakes and Butler.

Azhar said that batting in the third innings was not easy. “We could have made a big score but the target of 277 was enough, but their partnership took the match away from us,” he said.

He said that Buttler’s attacking batting was beneficial for England and luck also helped them. “The captaincy seems easy to do but the captain should not always be blamed, as far as responsibility is concerned,” he said.

The Test captain said that after playing cricket for 10 years, he knew what to do. “I will not say anything about team selection, this match was in our favour till yesterday and my focus is on this series. We should have won after giving such a big target,” he said.

National team head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq said that if Pakistan had batted better in the second innings the situation would have been different. “We would have won the match with a 300-plus lead,” he said.

Misbah said that the team had the ability to bounce back in the next two matches.

On the other hand, in the press conference, the captain of the host team Joe Root said that Buttler showed mental maturity and the mistakes made in this match would be rectified in the next matches.

Man of the Match award winner Chris Woakes said that he was happy with his performance and hoped that it would continue.

England defeated Pakistan by three wickets in the first Test match which was decided within four days.

In the second innings of the Manchester Test, Pakistani managed only 169 runs, setting England 277 to win.