The T20 World Cup 2024 campaign of the Pakistan cricket team started on a disastrous note as they lost their first league match to a team (USA) which was making its debut in the T20 World Cup and then they lost a match to India which was already in their pocket.
There is no denying the fact that a match between India and Pakistan is full of thrill, excitement and it is a pressure game as well but Pakistan needed to chase only 120 runs and they could have chased the target pretty easily if they had played sensible cricket. There was a time when Pakistan needed 47 runs to win the match in 46 balls and they had 7 wickets in hand but some superb bowling by the Indian bowlers restricted the Pakistan squad at the score of 113/7 and team India won the match by 6 runs.
The former Pakistani cricketer Wasim Akram was quite upset with the Pakistani team and he lashed out at Mohammad Rizwan, Iftikar Ahmed and Fakhar Zaman for not having game awareness.
While speaking in a show on a sports channel, Wasim Akram said that these guys are playing cricket for 10 years and he can’t teach them anything but Mohd. Rizwan has no game awareness. He said that Rizwan should have known that Jasprit Bumrah has been called to bowl for taking wickets so Rizwan should have played him in a cautious manner but he went for a big shot and gave away his wicket.
Wasim Akram added that the Pakistani players think that if they perform bad, the coaches will be fired and nothing will happen to them but this time, not the coach but the players should be sacked and the entire team should be changed. Wasim Akram was also upset with Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi and said that there are players in the team who are not talking to each other despite the fact that they are playing for the country. He added that such players should be made to sit at home.
The former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar was also very upset and aggravated with the Pakistani team. While speaking on his YouTube channel, he said that it was very disappointing as for Pakistan, it was a run-a-ball chase and it was a close chance. He added that earlier the Indian batters performed poorly as they had scored around 80 runs in 11 overs and they could have scored 160 runs but they couldn’t. As per him, if Rizwan had scored 20 runs more, Pakistan would have won the match but sadly these players didn’t use their brains.
Shoaib Akhtar also questioned the intent, application, etc. of the team and said that Pakistan should have won the match. He concluded by saying that he is speechless and hurt.
The former Pakistani pacer Waqar Younis was also very sad with the performance of the Pakistani side. While speaking at a sports channel, he said that Pakistan is a super team but if they can’t win this match then what he can say. He added that the match was given in plate to them but they spilled it and the Pakistani batters performed in a horrible manner. Waqar said that though they had partnerships in the beginning yet they couldn’t win the match.
The frustration of Pakistani fans and the former Pakistani cricketers is quite obvious as they were calling their team as favourites to win the tournament before it started but now they are not even sure about the matches that Pakistan will play against Canada and Ireland.
Which two teams according to you will proceed to the Super Eight from Group A?
