MELBOURNE     -         Babar Azam’s T20I side has always taken its fans on a ride, but the pain that lies at the end is beginning to feel familiar. Much like Pakistan’s agonising defeat in last year’s T20I World Cup semifinal and the Asia Cup final in September, Pakistan fell short of silverware in the T20 World Cup final in Melbourne, succumbing to a five-wicket defeat against England. Babar denied that Pakistan felt the pressure of the occasion, but acknowledged the repeated failure to sign off T20 campaigns in style had soured the mood. “It hurts when you can’t finish it off in a final, of course,” he said. “We’re very proud to play for Pakistan and make the final. But it hurts when you can’t finish it off. We couldn’t finish it off in the Asia Cup either, and that does sting. “This was a stressful week because we didn’t know we were in or out. But the way we grabbed our opportunity and played our best cricket in four matches in a row, our team deserves credit.” The Pakistan skipper further said: “The ball was seaming early on. We wanted to get 45-50 runs in the powerplay but we lost a few wickets. In 11 overs, we were around 85 [84], but the back-toback wickets that fell in the middle order meant we lost momentum. Especially after Shadab and Shan’s partnership ending with both getting out soon after each other like they did. “Our middle-order dot-ball ratio was a bit too high because we were in a different situation, trying to build a partnership. We couldn’t do that, and whenever a wicket falls, it takes the new batter 2-3 balls to settle down. That put us on the back foot as a batting unit because we couldn’t finish as we wanted,” he added. Babar said: “We didn’t expect to go through after our start. But the way the team came back and the way we grabbed our opportunity makes me proud. The way the middle order stepped up after Rizwan and I were struggling made me very happy. They won us matches, and put in individual performances like Iftikhar’s Shadab’s and Nawaz. The bowling dominated all tournament, too.” With the next Men’s T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in the Caribbean and United States in two years’ time, there is an opportunity for teams to make changes following this year’s tournament and build across the next 24-month cycle. But Babar says the Pakistan hierarchy will now turn their attention towards the upcoming Test Series against England and New Zealand before making any personnel decisions in the shorter form of the game. “It’s too early to decide,” he said. “We’ll play Tests next and when T20Is come around again we’ll decide.”