Babar Azam: Pakistan were not up to the mark in all three departments

The Pakistan captain promised his side would learn from their mistakes after losing to Zimbabwe by one run

Pakistan were "not up to the mark in all three departments" during their one-run defeat to Zimbabwe in Perth, according to captain Babar Azam. 

Tasked with chasing 131, Pakistan looked nervy following the early dismissals of Azam and Mohammad Rizwan and failed to get over the line despite some late hitting from Mohammad Nawaz (22 off 18). Shan Masood (44 off 28 at No.3) was the only other player to score more than 20.

Earlier, they had gifted Zimbabwe a boundary-laden start to their innings, conceding 22 runs off the opening eight deliveries as Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah struggled to read the conditions, before Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Wasim combined to wrestle back momentum.

^{Shan Masood was one of only two Pakistan batters to score more than 20 [Paul Kane/Getty Images]}

"Very disappointing performance by my team," Babar said. "We were not up to the mark in the batting. We had a bad first six overs. Shadab and Shan built a partnership but unfortunately Shadab [got] out and then back-to-back wickets put pressure on the batting.

"First six overs, we are not using the new ball [well] but later on we finished well. We'll sit together and learn from our mistakes and come back hard next match."

Asked whether the decision to play Mohammad Wasim, a bowler, in place of middle-order batter Asif Ali was the wrong call, he added: "I don't think so. This pitch required fast bowlers."

Pakistan are yet to win a match at the T20 World Cup, having lost their tournament opener to India. They are fifth in group two, with matches against the Netherlands, South Africa and Bangladesh still to come.

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