“Lumber 1” became one of the top trends on Twitter after Babar Azam's Pakistan was upset by the USA in the T20 World Cup on Thursday.
For those who are unaware, trolls use “lumber 1” to target Babar Azam because he was previously the top-ranked batter in the format. But more often than not, social media users take potshots at him for his slow pace of batting in T20s.
He became a subject of social media mockery after his below-par batting performance contributed heavily to Pakistan's shocking defeat to the USA in the T20 World Cup.
Fans brutally trolled Babar Azam after Pakistan looked like a subdued side. Their batters led by Babar Azam demonstrated a rather unusual approach on the pitch. Rather than taking on the USA's bowlers, they were circumspect, allowing them to build pressure on them.
Babar Azam in particular failed to break the shackles as he struggled for rhythm throughout his innings of 44 off 43 deliveries. Fans were so furious with his batting display that they described his knock as a “Test innings.”
Other than Babar Azam, no Pakistani top-order batter made any significant contribution to the total with Mohammad Rizwan, Usman Khan, and Fakhar Zaman falling for 9, 3, and 11, respectively.
Thanks to their lower middle order, Pakistan did manage to put up 159/7 on the board in their allocated 20 overs after Shadab Khan (40 off 25 balls) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (23 off 16 deliveries) made vital contributions.
With Pakistan putting up a below-par total, the Americans felt they were in with a chance to inflict a shocking defeat to the 2009 T20 World Cup champions.
Unlike the Pakistanis who were cautious while batting in the powerplay, the Americans decided to be aggressive from the word go, and their captain Monank Patel went ballistic, taking the opposition bowlers head-on.
He stitched together a crucial partnership of 68 runs with Andries Gous for the second wicket, helping USA past the 100-run mark in their run chase in the 14th over. While Monank Patel made 50 off 38 balls, Andries Gous scored 36 off 26 deliveries.
Despite that Pakistan made a match of it as they restricted the Americans to 159/3, which meant that scores were tied after both sides played out their respective 20 overs, forcing a super over to decide the winner.
In the super over, Mohammad Amir's indiscipline cost Pakistan 18 runs, leaving them 19 to chase to claim victory in the game. However, they couldn't do so and only scored 13 runs in reply to USA's total. It helped the USA register an upset of epic proportions, sending shockwaves across the cricketing world.
The loss is one of the greatest upsets in the history of cricket, considering the Americans hardly feature in top-level competitions. In fact, the Monank Patel-led team only made it to the event as the joint hosts of the high-profile tournament, otherwise, they wouldn't have been taking part in it.
It is worth noting that the Pakistan cricket team has been severely criticized for their underperformance in T20Is in recent days. Just a few weeks ago, Pakistan was beaten by Ireland in a T20I series at home.
Subsequently, Babar Azam blamed Pakistan's bowlers and his team's poor batting performance in the powerplay overs for the stunning loss in Dallas.
“Today's wicket had help for the fast bowlers in the first six overs. But later on, I didn't feel it was a different wicket. It settled down a bit. Because of the early start – the matches are starting at 10.30am – the fast bowlers will obviously get a little help. There was some juice in the pitch early morning. So they utilized that and executed their plan,” Babar Azam said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Even in the second innings, I think we also got help, but we were not up to the mark in terms of our bowling areas. We lacked in that in the first ten overs. We came back after that but they had already taken the momentum. But given the bowlers we have, we should have defended that total. On this pitch, I think it was a defendable total for our bowling,” he added.
“We are better than that in the bowling. We did not take wickets in the first six overs. In the middle overs, if your spinner is not taking wickets, then the pressure is on you. After ten overs, we did come back but I think the way they finished game in the Super Over, the credit goes to the US team,” Babar Azam continued.
“In the first six overs, the ball was holding a bit and seaming around. So it was important to build a partnership. When Shadab and I had that partnership, we got momentum. I think when we lost the wickets back to back, that was the turning point. The momentum we had was shifted towards the other side,” he explained.
“It was difficult in the beginning, but we covered it up. But as a professional unit, the middle order needs to step up in such situations. This is not an excuse – I don't think it was that they played well, I think we played badly,” Babar Azam concluded.
Follow Us
Subscribe
