Pakistan captain Babar Azam has brushed aside the notion that he is unable to handle the pressure of leadership.
Speaking after Pakistan’s shocking loss against Afghanistan on Monday, Azam said that he always tries to give his best on the field.
"As far as captaincy is concerned, there is not much pressure on me or on my batting. I always try to give my best, my 100% during batting. During fielding, I think about captaincy and during batting I just think about the batting. How I should score runs for the team."
Azam also said that his side, who have lost three out of five games during the ongoing ICC World Cup in India, has not been able to click in all departments of the game.
"We are not able to click in all departments at the same time," Babar said. "When we do well in bowling, we don't do well in batting. When we do well in batting, we don't do as well in fielding.
"Fielding is all about attitude. And I don't see any attitude from the team. You need to put in extra effort and be fit. You should focus on the ball, not on other thoughts and when the ball comes to you, you have to be proactive as a fielder. I think we are lacking that a little bit as a fielding unit.
"In the bowling, we have not been able to execute our plans. When you are not able to hit the length you want to and end up conceding boundaries, your focus shifts to stopping runs. In that, you keep making mistakes, and that puts you under pressure.
"Here, the margin of error for bowlers is very low. If you bowl a little bit away from the stumps, you get hit. So, we are lacking there a little bit. We are not able to bowl within the stumps.
"The same goes for the spinners. We bowl four good balls and then there are two balls that go for boundaries or runs, because the margin is very small. If you bowl consistently at one place, then there will be pressure. So that thing is missing."
The defeat leaves Pakistan´s World Cup campaign in disarray as they gear up to face a formidable South Africa side on Friday.
- Babar Azam
