Pakistan cricket team has been eliminated from the ongoing T20 World Cup in the group stage itself. To stay alive in the Super 8 race, the Babar Azam-led side needed Ireland to beat the United States. However, inclement weather played spoilsport as the match ended in a no-result, pushing USA to the next round alongside India from Group A.
The Men in Green paid the price for a Super Over defeat against USA in their campaign opener, followed by a nervy six-run defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India.
The sorry exit led to a scathing criticism of the 2009 champions. Former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq also commented on the national team’s flop show, attributing it to the selection blunders.
According to Inzamam, the team was stuffed with openers while they failed to find middle-orders batters, which he felt was “shameful”.
“Jis tarah ki selection hui hai, aisi selection nahi karni hai. Pehle se lekar paanchwi tak sab openers hi khel rahe hai. Koi middle-order hi nahi hai Pakistan me. Badi sharamindagi hoti hai ki poore Pakistan me koi middle order batsmen hi nahi hai, jisko hum select kar sake. (This is certainly not the way a team should be selected. From No. 1 to No. 5, all are openers. It is shameful that we cannot find middle-order batters in Pakistan),” Inzamam said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
The former Pakistan selector also pointed out that other than some performances from Babar, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi, the team failed to perform as a unit.
“This struggle is not limited to the T20 World Cup. They struggled in a similar manner in the Asia Cup as well. Asia Cup is done. ODI World Cup is done. Even in the 2-3 series after that Pakistan was never on top, never united. Individual performances was all you could see, sometimes from Babar, from Rizwan and from Shaheen. You didn’t see them perform as a unit,” he remarked.
Pakistan salvaged some pride by winning their last group match against Ireland on June 16. However, they suffered a batting collapse before Babar rescued his side and sealed a scrappy win in the chase of 107.
