Pakistan cricket team got whitewashed by England in the three-match ODI series on Tuesday (July 13). They put on a better performance in the third ODI but it turned out to be not enough to avoid a clean sweep.
England defeated Pakistan by 3 wickets as they chased down 332 runs in 48 overs and Babar Azam's 158-run knock went in vain. James Vince scored a hundred for England in the chase.
Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar said Pakistan cricket is being run by ‘average people’. He was upset with the outcome on the England tour and added that it is wrong to expect extraordinary things from average people.
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“It's a shameful performance. Our board is average. It brings average people, the management is average so obviously, they are going to build an average team. You can’t expect extraordinary things from average people. It’s wrong for you to expect.
“Crowd are coming to the ground but after watching such performances, the fan following will never grow. There is no star to inspire the youngsters. Then how can you bring the next Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi or Wasim Akram? You have to build brand,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.
The 45-year-old feels the Pakistan cricket team doesn't know the right score for modern cricket and they get happy with a modest score of 320-330 on batting pitches.
“Why this England team is doing so much better than us? Our mindset after we lose a couple of wickets is to bat steadily, build partnerships and then only try and attack in the last 10 overs. This is 70s cricket. We are stuck in the 70s. England say even if we are bowled out in 40 overs we will make sure we get 300. Every England batsman that walked in, kept the scoreboard moving and it was not mindless slogging. It was methodical hitting, there was the rotation of strike. But we are playing 70s cricket because our mindset is like that, we don’t want to improve,” he said.
Akhtar further showed his disappointments and said the performance by the Pakistan cricket team is not defendable and they are currently in a hopeless situation.
“Pakistan cricket is in a serious situation. They are in treacherous waters. It’s a very hopeless situation for PCB and Pakistan. I don’t know what the authorities are thinking but it’s a very hopeless situation. I’m not saying because I need a job but I’m saying this because I’m hurt. I played this game for my country. I ran in and I made sure people get value for their money. And they did that. Unfortunately, I’m not getting value for money from this team. This is not defendable, this is unexpected. This must be looked into,” he said.
