PALLEKELE: Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha admitted that poor decision making under pressure cost his side dearly as they failed to reach the semi finals of the T20 World Cup despite a narrow five run win over Sri Lanka in their final Super Eight match.
Pakistan defeated co hosts and already ousted Sri Lanka by a five run margin in their last Super Eight stage match, but the victory was not enough to secure a place in the semi finals.
"If you see the entire tournament, we have under performed. In the 20 over game, we played 18 overs very well, and the other team is allowed to play two overs well. But, yes our last three overs execution was not good. We have done better bowling than this in the past. We are a better bowling unit. We were missing our execution," Agha said at the post match press conference on Saturday night.
The skipper took full responsibility for the below par performance.
"We will take full responsibility. Why not? Because we were involved in selecting the team and we were responsible for the players. I will take responsibility and I'm sure the coach will also take," Agha said.
He said decision making under pressure was a major issue for Pakistan and needed to be addressed to achieve better results in ICC events.
"And the same thing I told them, we have to take better decisions when we are under pressure. Because basically, you make mistakes under pressure. And in ICC events, the pressure is high because you're playing against the best teams in the world. Every game is very important because if you lose a game, it feels like you are out of the tournament. So, I think when you are under pressure, you have to make good decisions," Agha said.
Agha said Pakistan need to improve their performance in high pressure situations, especially in global tournaments.
"You are absolutely right that we didn't reach the semi finals in the last four ICC tournaments. The reason is that we have to increase our game when playing under pressure. And when the pressure increases, how to improve our decision making. I think that matters more right now. Because whenever there is pressure, I think our decision making is not as good as it should be. When you come to the World Cup or ICC events, there is always pressure. If your decision making is not good under that pressure, then the result will be like this."
Agha refrained from commenting on whether he would step down from T20 captaincy after the disappointing campaign.
"I came in at number three and played well in Sri Lanka and Australia series. I couldn't give the performance I should have given. We haven't played as well as we should have in the World Cup. Any decision taken right now will be emotional.We will go back and take some time and then make the required decision," he concluded.