Lahore: Pakistan cricket team batting consultant, Matthew Hayden, and bowling consultant Vernon Philander have said that the dressing room scenes after the Babar Azam-led side lost to Australia in the ICC T20 World Cup semifinal were of “complete devastation”.
In a short video posted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Friday, Hayden and Philander are seen discussing the dressing room scene post the five-wicket loss to Australia November 11 and how the defeat shattered the players.
“The scenes in the dressing room, it didn’t shock me when you do play with your heart, just how a heart gets broken and you go into a match with the expectations and it doesn’t come off for a number of different reasons,” said Australian great Hayden, who was hired as the batting consultant by the PCB for the duration of the T20 World Cup.
“Your heart’s broken that’s what really you saw in the dressing room, scenes of complete devastation,” he added.
The semifinal was also touted as a clash between two Australian tacticians — Aus coach Justin Langer and Pak consultant Hayden — and in the end the former won, with late-order heroics from Marcus Stoinis (40 not out) and Matthew Wade (41 not out) dashing Pakistan’s dreams.
“I could really sense a lot of hurt in the change room and you know you only hurt if you give your 100 per cent,” Pakistan’s bowling consultant Philander said.
The two cricketing stalwarts asked Pakistani fans to stick behind Babar Azam’s boys as their only aim was to make fans proud.
“As fans, guys you’ve got to stick with this generation of Pakistani cricketers because they bleed for you guys and they really want to make sure that you are proud and I am hoping that’s what you are,” said Hayden.
“Stick behind this team and hopefully they can go and win the trophies and tournaments in the recent future,” Philander added.