Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan who led the side in this Champions Trophy was unable to win any matches for his side in the tournament. The Men in Green lost back to back games against New Zealand and India.
New Zealand's win over Bangladesh confirmed Pakistan's exit. The side's final game between Bangladesh was washed out due to rain In Rawalpindi.
After his side's exit from the tournament, Mohammad Rizwan said that injuries to key batters Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman played a key role in the side not having a tournament that they would have hoped. Ayub was ruled out before the tournament began while Zaman picked up an injury in the very first game against New Zealand.
"We wanted to do well and perform well in front of our nation. The expectations are very high. We didn't perform well and it is disappointing for us," Rizwan said.
Rizwan said that Saim Ayub performed against Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe in the last few months and his absence was a big miss along with Fakhar Zaman.
“The guy who has been performing for the last few months in Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe… the team was combined and then suddenly when someone is injured, the team will be disturbed,” Rizwan said on Ayub's injury.
We Have Made Mistakes - Mohammad Rizwan
The Pakistan skipper also spoke about better infrastructures in domestic cricket in order to prepare better players for the national team.
"We want improvements in different things. If we want to improve, and for Pakistan to have a high standard, we need awareness, professionalism. We see that in the Champions Cup, but we need more improvement. "We have made mistakes in the last few games. Hopefully, we can learn from these" said Rizwan.
Pakistan will next tour New Zealand for a five-match T20I and three-ODI series, starting March 16.
"We are next going to New Zealand and hopefully we can perform there and the mistakes that we did against New Zealand here in Pakistan, we can learn from that. And we will do better in New Zealand" Rizwan concluded saying.
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