Babar Azam-led Pakistan suffered a comprehensive eight-wicket defeat from the hosts on October 14 at Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium. The Pakistan team reached Bengaluru on the next day where they will face five-time Champions Australia. As there are plenty of days left before they face Australia, the team went out for dinner in Bengaluru.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) shared a video of Pakistan players walking out of the team bus. They had dinner, clicked photos of themselves and posed for a few with fans as well.
Pakistan will take on Australia on October 20 at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. After two losses, Pat Cummins’ Australia got back to winning ways with a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on October 16. Their leg-spinner Adam Zampa, opener Mitchell Marsh and wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis came back in form to defeat Kusal Mendis-led Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Pakistan started off with a win over the Netherlands. They followed it up with a record-breaking run chase against Sri Lanka at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad featuring centuries from Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan.
But Pakistan suffered a massive batting collapse as they lost eight wickets for just 36 runs. In the end, it was too low a target for Pakistan bowlers to defend, especially when Rohit Sharma went all guns blazing.
“We started well. Good partnership between me and Imam. We wanted to play normal cricket. Suddenly we had a collapse and didn't finish well. The way we started, wanted to target 280-290. With the new ball we are not upto the mark. The way Rohit is playing - he played an outstanding innings,” Babar said in the post-match presentation.
Pakistan are currently fourth on the points table with a negative net run rate (NRR) as it took a hit after the loss to India. They may slip a few positions in the coming days before taking on Australia.
Meanwhile, Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur's comments caused controversy as he complained of lack of support for the visitors in the post-match press conference.
"Look, I'd be lying if I said it didn't. It didn't seem like an ICC event to be brutally honest. It seemed like a bilateral series; it seemed like a BCCI event. I didn't hear 'Dil Dil Pakistan' coming through the microphones too often tonight."
"So yes, that does play a role, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse because for us it was about living the moment, it was about the next ball and it was about how we were going to combat the Indian, the Indian players tonight," he added.
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