“Never Say Never” is the brilliant three-word response from the Pakistan skipper Babar Azam as they paved their way straight to the finals of Men’s T20 World Cup which was held in Australia.
Even though the world-class England team got the trophy, we cannot forget the tremendous effort Pakistan team made to repeat the history of 1992 when they won the World Cup final against England. Even though England had to score only 137 the bowling line was at their peak point as they made it hard for England to chase down their target and played the match until the last over.
Unfortunately, during the match Shaheen Shah Afridi, the 22-year-old young superstar who holds ICC bowling ranking equal to his age was injured which was a huge loss for Pakistan. The 19-year-old Naseem Shah was able to support his team by having 15 dot balls as it put a high pressure on England’s batsmen.
However, it is not only the final match that matters but their performance from the group stage. After losing the first two matches consecutively against India and Zimbabwe, the Pakistan team was under a lot of pressure with the criticism of sports commentators and the dashing of hopes of Pakistan cricket fans.
After the two losses, Babar Azam and the team came back strongly as they won four matches consecutively including the nail-biting semi-final against New Zealand. Shadab Khan also managed to hold the team together.
Throughout their massive journey even though I have not mentioned them separately I could not forget Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Muhammad Wasim, Haris Rauf and the whole Pakistan cricket squad and their coaches.
Even though many said they could not manage it, as Babar Azam said “Never Say Never”, as anything is possible.