While displaying some sportsmanship after the loss to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final, all-arounder Shadab Khan accepted blame for the defeat.
In the Sunday final versus Pakistan, Sri Lankan batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa destroyed the Pakistani bowling team and won by 23 runs. Sri Lanka has now won the Asia Cup championship six times.
Sri Lanka while playing first, posted a total of 170 runs on board, despite losing early wickets, however, the favorites of the tournament, Pakistan could only score 147 runs in an attempt to chase the target. Only three players from the Pakistan side got into the double figures, while the remaining, including captain Babar, failed to perform.
Read more: Shadab Khan: A young talent haunted by injuries
Fan blasted the whole team for the poor performance, however, all-rounder Shadab Khan specially came under fire for dropping two catches.
Catches win matches. Sorry, I take responsibility for this loss. I let my team down. Positives for team, @iNaseemShah, @HarisRauf14, @mnawaz94 and the entire bowling attack was great. @iMRizwanPak fought hard. The entire team tried their best. Congratulations to Sri Lanka pic.twitter.com/7qPgAalzbt
— Shadab Khan (@76Shadabkhan) September 11, 2022
The all-rounder was severely criticized by the supporters, which demoralized him. In response, he rushed to Twitter to apologize to the fans and accept responsibility for the final defeat.
“Catches win matches. Sorry, I take responsibility for this loss. I let my team down. Positives for the team, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Nawaz and the entire bowling attack was great,” Shadab tweeted.
All-rounder also appreciated Mohammad Rizwan for his outstanding performance throughout the tournament.
Read more: Rumman Raees reveals why he did not celebrate wicket of Shadab Khan
“Mohammad Rizwan fought hard. The entire team tried their best. Congratulations to Sri Lanka,” he said.
Meanwhile, former pacer, Shoaib Akhtar defended Shadab for his fielding.
“He is our best fielder. Shadab khan just having a bad day,” Tweeted Shoaib.
The Men in Green had hard luck in the Asia Cup 2022 decider as they failed to perform well against now Asian champions Sri Lanka, despite taking a good start on Sunday.
The poor performance by the national squad in the second innings killed the hopes of 220 million Pakistanis who had been waiting to cherish a win amid the devastation caused by floods back home.
But Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ramiz Raja who watched the match live from the Dubai International Stadium is still hopeful that the Green Shirts will make a comeback and win the T20 World Cup slated to begin this October.