Former Pakistani pace bowler Mohammad Amir has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after the one-run defeat to Zimbabwe in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 match on Thursday, October 27. In his tweet, he asked about the sacking of PCB chairman Ramiz Raja and chief selector Muhammad Wasim. After their four-wicket defeat to India in their opening Super 12 encounter in Melbourne, Pakistan needed to beat Zimbabwe in Perth but they failed to chase down the total at the end.
Reacting to the stunning defeat, Amir, who has had a not-so-good relationship with the Pakistan board, lashed out at the management over poor team selection. He took to his official Twitter handle and wrote: “From day one I said poor selection ub is cheez ki responsibility kon le ga (Who will take responsibility for this now). I think it’s time to get rid of so called chairman jo pcb ka khuda bana hwa hai (chairman has become god of PCB) and so called chief selector.”
However, reacting to their performance, Pakistan captain Babar Azam has admitted that his team put up a very disappointing effort, especially in the batting department. However, Pakistan will next take on the Netherlands in Perth on Sunday, October 30.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Azam said: “Very disappointing performance, we are not up to the mark in batting. We have good batters but both openers got out in the powerplay. Shadab and Shan were building a partnership. Unfortunately, Shadab got out and then back-to-back wickets that pushed us into pressure situation. First 6 overs, we haven’t used the new ball well but we finished well with the ball. We will sit out, discuss our mistakes and we will train hard and come back strong in our next game.”
Meanwhile, former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has lashed out at the team’s batting department after they failed to chase down 131 in the T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 match against Zimbabwe on Thursday, October 27. According to him, Zimbabwe’s bowling had nothing much, yet Pakistan struggled to score.
Dissecting Pakistan’s below-par batting effort against Zimbabwe, Inzamam-ul-Haq said on his YouTube channel: “The same problem existed during the Asia Cup as well. As soon as the top two got out, others couldn’t do anything. Babar and (Mohammad) Rizwan got out early and we couldn’t chase 130 against Zimbabwe. There was no reason for them not to chase it down. There was no extreme pace on offer from Zimbabwe bowlers. (Sikandar) Raza is a part-time spinner and Pakistan struggled against him as well. Their bowlers were bowling at speeds of 130-135 and yet our batters were beaten at least 40 times. This is not a one-off batting display. This has been happening for a while now.”
While stating that Iftikhar Ahmed and Shan Masood have done well with the bat, the former player added that one-off performances are not going to win them the T20 World Cup as well. While Iftikhar hit 51 against India and five against Zimbabwe, Masood registered scores of 52* and 44 as well.
“We all knew Pakistan would struggle if Babar and Rizwan don’t score. Yes Iftikhar Ahmed and Shan Masood scored runs in the first game. But there is no point of this form where you score one fifty and then go to sleep for the next three to four games. You cannot win any tournament like this. I don’t know where Pakistan stand now because South Africa is the other danger team in the group. Just like Pakistan, South Africa also have a number of good fast bowlers. They thrive under these (Australian) conditions. Their batting also is in form as they scored 200 (against Bangladesh). Things have become very difficult for Pakistan,” Inzamam-ul-Haq concluded.
