T20 World Cup’22: PAK 'embarrassed’ after sour loss to ZIM

Ex-players lashed out at the “average mindset” and team selection after Pakistan’s shocking loss to Zimbabwe, which has put the former champions in danger of missing the T20 World Cup semi-finals.

Against Zimbabwe, a team with a low ranking, Pakistan failed to score 130 on Thursday. After their four-wicket defeat of archrival India, Babar Azam and Co. suffered their second defeat in as many matches.

Soon after, Babar, PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja, chief selector Muhammad Wasim, and head coach Saqlain Mushtaq were targeted on social media by fans and former players.

“Very very embarrassing and disappointing. The fact is you have to play hard to even beat a team like Zimbabwe they wouldn’t be defeated by themselves. Our selections have been average and our mindset has been average and it has landed Pakistan cricket in this mess today,”

former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said.

Other former players also expressed disappointment and concern at the state of Pakistan cricket with some describing the defeat as hurting.

“Is this where our cricket has come to? We can’t score 130 runs against a low ranked team like Zimbabwe. If this is our batting quality then God help our cricket”,

Former Test opener Mohsin Khan said.

The former head coach, who also served as chief selector, added that Pakistan didn’t show any intent.

“Zimbabwe bowlers were disciplined and persistent and it was clear they wanted to win this match more then us,”

he said.

Test great Javed Miandad also questioned the player selection.

“This is what happens when you allow non-performing batter to remain in the team and keep deserving players out. I have said it before international cricket is not a place for learning and unfortunately every time the team has done badly we have tried to sweep it under the carpet by saying they are learning,”

Miandad said.

Miandad said that Pakistan’s chase strategy was troubling because no batsman seemed to be focused on winning the game. Because they are professional cricketers, it was shameful to see how some of our batters lost wickets.

from day one I said poor selection ub is cheez ki responsibility kon le ga I think it's time to get rid of so called chairman jo pcb ka khuda bana hwa hai and so called chief selector.

— Mohammad Amir (@iamamirofficial) October 27, 2022

Rashid Latif, a former captain, stated that the outcome on Thursday had left the World Cup wide open and made it more interesting.

“It has become a very difficult situation for Pakistan now to qualify for semi finals but overall it makes the tournament open and shows you can’t take any team lightly nowadays,”

he added.

Ex-skipper and opener Salman Butt also slammed the team’s performance and also questioned Babar’s captaincy.

“These players were not just equipped to play well in Australia and once Muhammad Rizwan and Babar Azam didn’t get going the writing was on the wall for us, I have been saying all along you don’t make someone a captain so that he can learn while playing and leading the national team. You only appoint someone as captain when you know he has the required leadership qualities to lead the other players well”

he said.

Iqbal Qasim, a former Test spinner, stated that Pakistani cricket supporters’ and fans’ hopes of watching their team play in the World Cup final were dashed in just one match due to poor captaincy and a timid approach from the batsmen.

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“It is a sad and disappointing day for Pakistan cricket really losing to Zimbabwe like this. Our cricket is not really this bad that we should get such a result.” he mentioned.

he mentioned.