Salman Agha, the captain of Pakistan, acknowledged that his team “underperformed” in the “whole tournament” after his team lost to Sri Lanka in a close match in Colombo, which led to their elimination from the T20 World Cup.

Pakistan needed to limit the hosts to 147 runs or less after reaching 212 in order to surpass Sri Lanka by 65 runs and go to the semi-finals. They ultimately fell short, with Pakistan holding on for a five-run victory after Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka’s late surge almost won the match. “If you look at the whole tournament and I had to sum it up, we underperformed,” Agha stated at the press conference following the game. “Our middle order never performed, and we over-relied on Sahibzada [Farhan] for our runs.”

In Saturday’s match, Pakistan’s batting troubles were a microcosm of problems that have continued throughout the competition. Sahibzada Farhan finished with 383 runs, breaking Virat Kohli’s record for most runs at a single T20 World Cup. Shadab Khan, Pakistan’s next-highest scorer in this tournament with 118 runs in six innings, is yet to provide any assistance to the opener, though.

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Pakistan got 176 for the opening partnership at Pallekele on Saturday, where they had Fakhar Zaman open with Farhan after benching him for the whole group stage. However, their momentum waned as they lost eight wickets for 34 runs in the following four overs. Except for the openers, no batter reached double figures.

On that surface, it was hard for a rookie batter to come in and score quickly, according to Agha, who scored a two-ball duck.

The selection of the team, both with bat and ball, has also come under close criticism. In particular, head coach Mike Hesson and Agha have occasionally contradicted themselves in defending the team’s ongoing use of an unproductive Babar Azam in the middle order. After a subpar performance against India, Abrar Ahmed—Pakistan’s top T20I spinner over the previous 12 months—was benched. He was the best bowler last night, going 3 for 23 in his four, however ESPNcricinfo acknowledges that there were questions about his capacity to remain composed under duress.

Agha stated, “We take responsibility,” “As captain and coach, we consider the circumstances and the situation before choosing our playing XI. I accept responsibility, and the coach does too. Under pressure, we will need to make better decisions. Because you are competing against the top teams in the world, there will always be pressure at ICC competitions. Additionally, each game matters because losing puts you in danger of elimination.

Agha, who recently played in his 50th T20I match as captain, stated he would not hurry into accepting any “emotional” calls, so that duty did not yet extend to a choice about his future. However, he has had a forgettable tournament with the bat, scoring only 60 runs in six innings, including 38 against Namibia. After a few impressive performances in bilateral series against Australia and Sri Lanka, he adopted the position and experimented with batting at No. 3 for the most of the tournament.

“I performed admirably in the Australia and Sri Lanka series at No. 3. I couldn’t deliver in the same manner at this World Cup. He claimed that the batting lineup, except Sahibzada, did not perform well during the entire World Cup. We thought that Fakhar would need to use the powerplay today. We decided to employ Fakhar there because Saim [Ayub] wasn’t playing well, and he did a fantastic job at bat.

“We were playing with that goal in mind when we realised we had to win by 65. We always understood what we would have to defend when we hit 200. And we believed we could accomplish that, but Dasun and [Pavan] Rathanayake also deserve recognition. Despite our pressure on them, they batted superbly.

Poor bat and ball performance in the final overs cost Pakistan dearly. “In the 20-over innings with the bat, we played 18 overs very well,” said Sri Lanka, who came within one run of victory after scoring 35 in the last four overs and giving up 100 in the last seven, including 40 in the last two. The opposing team is permitted to play well for two overs. We bowled poorly in the final three overs,” Agha remarked. As a bowling unit, we are superior to this one and have been in the past. Today, we didn’t execute the ball well.

Agha has called for “improved decision-making” in crucial situations, since it has led to Pakistan’s elimination before the semi-final of the ICC men’s competition for the fourth time in a row.

“When the pressure is on, how we improve our decision-making matters,” he stated. “We don’t always make the best decisions when we are under pressure. And for that reason, we obtain the outcomes that we do.