Masood blames himself, Shadab after T20 World Cup final loss

KARACHI: Pakistan batter Shan Masood blamed himself and Shadab Khan for the loss against England in the final of the T20 World Cup 2022 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

Pakistan were handed a five-wicket loss by the Poms in the final, thanks to a brilliant bowling performance from Sam Curran and Adil Rashid and a crucial half-century from all-rounder Ben Stokes.

Opting to field first, England restricted Pakistan to a meagre 137 runs before chasing down the target in 19 overs to become the champions of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

Masood felt Shadab and himself were to blame for the innings' collapse.

"When Babar and I were batting, we built a very good platform and then lost two wickets. We recovered that with Shadab and myself and then I don't think we finished well and I think me and Shadab hold ourselves accountable for not staying there," Masood told ESPNcricinfo.

"There were stages, especially with the bat where we could have finished the innings really well. Personally, I take the blame for it. I thought that we were aiming for 170 and having looked at how the innings ended, maybe we could have used a batsman staying until the end and getting us to 155-160 which looked very good on a pitch that did something."

The left-handed batter also heaped praise on Pakistan's bowling line-up but accepted that his side gave away runs early in the innings.

"At the end in that crucial period where we lost Shaheen, we could have done with his two overs at the end.

"We're a bit disappointed. We couldn't seal it in the crucial moments. England were very good in those crucial moments. I thought they came at us both with the bat and the ball," he added.

Masood (38 off 28 balls) played a crucial role in Pakistan's surge in the early middle overs, especially when he took 16 off Liam Livingston's single over to put Pakistan in a position of relative control at 84 for 2 after 11 overs.

Pakistan are scheduled to take on England in a three-match Test series, starting from 1st December.

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