The Pakistan team led by captain Babar Azam have suffered back-to-back losses in the T20 World Cup 2024, following their defeats against arch-rivals India and co-hosts USA.
Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt offered a brutal take on the team's batting lineup following their failure to chase down the target set by team India, in what was virtually a must-win game for Pakistan, to keep their hopes alive in the tournament.
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Team India made a stunning comeback in the game despite posting a target of just 120 runs. Pakistan, who were in a relatively comfortable position at the halfway stage with 57/1, lost their way through the middle overs after a poor batting performance, as they fell short by 6 runs in the end.
What did Salman Butt say about Pakistan's batting line up at the T20 World Cup 2024?
At the halfway stage of the chase, Pakistan had 57 runs on the board for the loss of just one wicket and were in a prime position to chase down the target of 120 set by Team India.
"We never thought that they [Pakistan] could even lose from this stage, but these batters have shown that they can lose from this comfortable position too," he said.
Pakistan lost 3 wickets for 28 runs and conceded 20 dot balls from overs 10 to 16. The team played a total of 59 dot balls in the course of their chase in the second innings.
"Hardik Pandya is an allrounder. Look at how many dot balls he bowled in his last 2 overs, when he was bowling the hard length and out batters were getting beaten by it. Our main batting lineup has likes of Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim and Iftikhar Ahmed. I feel like we carried too many people who were just tagged as 'batsman'. We played Shadab who is an allrounder, like a pure batter - he did not bowl a ball," Butt said.
The former Pakistan captain was impressed with the body language of Team India despite setting a modest target of 120 on board because they needed just a couple of wickets to come back into the game.
"Even after scoring just 119 runs, there was no panic in the faces of the Indian players," he added. "Their body language was so calm because they knew that if one or two wickets fall, they can catch Pakistan by the throat and make a comeback in the game."
Can Pakistan qualify for the Super Eights after defeat to India?
Butt then went on to discuss about Pakistan's slim-to-no chances of qualifying for the Super Eight stages after their back-to-back defeats to start the tournament.
He noted that USA need just one more point to take their tally to 5, while Pakistan can only reach a maximum of 4 points even if they win the next two games, saying:
"If it rains in one of USA's next games, Pakistan is out of the tournament. They [USA] only need one more point to qualify. You have lost 2 matches, and you can only get a maximum of 4 more points."
Pakistan are currently fourth in the five-team group. Only the top two will qualify for the Super Eights.
Group A standings
| Rank | Team | W | L | T/NR | NRR | Pts. |
| 1 | India | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1.455 | 4 |
| 2 | USA | 2 | 0 | 0 | +0.626 | 4 |
| 3 | Canada | 1 | 1 | 0 | -0.274 | 2 |
| 4 | Pakistan | 0 | 2 | 0 | -0.150 | 0 |
| 5 | Ireland | 0 | 2 | 0 | -1.712 | 0 |
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