Former Pakistani captain and wicketkeeper Rashid Latif on Friday (January 18) blamed the extended hangover of the 2017 Champions Trophy triumph for Pakistan's recent downfall in the Test cricket.

Latif also believes that the team’s ‘lack of preparation’ is one of the main reasons for their downfall in Test cricket, as they managed to win only four Tests out of 13 Tests post the Champions Trophy success in England in 2017.

Pakistan had defeated arch-rivals India in the finals to lift the trophy in England.

Rashid told reporters, “One of the main problems was the extended hangover of the 2017 Champions Trophy triumph. Captain, coaches, management, selection committee or the board, everybody was under the influence of the historic feat longer than required.”

On South Africa Test series performance, former wicketkeeper-batsman continued, “Preparations weren’t up to the mark. In the first Test, Azhar Ali came to bat at number four, who never played at this slot. In the second innings of the second Test, Azhar was pulled back at number three while Fakhar Zaman batted at number six. This is the reflection of bad preparation and is indicative of the fact that Pakistan lacked middle-order batsmen on the challenging tour.”

Meanwhile, he also admitted that there were flaws in Sarfraz Ahmed`s captaincy skills, but insisted that the skipper was not only responsible for the team’s poor performances in Test cricket.

Rashid signed off by saying, “Even this captain can produce good results with a better team combination or else give this combination to any captain, and the problem will remain the same in Test cricket. This performance puts a question mark on the selection committee as well as the coaching staff and the management.”

(With Daily Times Inputs)