Shoaib Akhtar minced no words in his postmortem of Pakistan’s defeat to Zimbabwe but the former Pakistan speedster made another prediction that hasn’t gone down too well with the fans. Akhtar said Pakistan are likely to return home from the T20 World Cup Super 12 stage and India too will be knocked out from the semi-finals.
Pakistan’s unexpected 1-run loss to Zimbabwe in the last ball of their T20 World Cup Super 12 Group 2 match in Perth on Thursday was meted with harsh criticism from fans and experts alike. The likes of Wasim Akram, Shoaib Malik, Waqar Younis, and Misbah-ul-Haq launched a scathing attack on Babar Azam and Co. for suffering successive defeats in the World Cup, which has now put their semi-final qualification in jeopardy. Shoaib Akhtar too minced no words in his postmortem of Pakistan’s defeat at the Sydney Cricket Ground but the former Pakistan speedster made another prediction that hasn’t gone down too well with the fans. Akhtar said Pakistan are likely to return home from the T20 World Cup Super 12 stage and India too will be knocked out from the semi-finals.
“I had already told Pakistan that they will come back this week. And India will come back next week after playing in the semi-final. Voh bhi koi Tees Maar Khan nahi hai (India are also not some unbeatable side) and we are even worse,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.
India sit on top of Group 2 with back-to-back wins against Pakistan and the Netherlands. If they manage to beat South Africa in their next match on Sunday then the Rohit Sharma-led side will be all but through to the semi-finals as their last two matches will be against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
Pakistan too will be hoping that India win their remaining matches and they win three on the bounce to qualify for the semi-final as the second-best team of this group.
The Men in Green put up a good show with the ball by restricting Zimbabwe to 129/8 but their batters made a meal of the run-chase and ended up losing the match by 1 run. This was the lowest target in a T20 World Cup that Pakistan failed to chase. Akhtar said Babar Azam is a ‘bad captain’ and their middle order isn’t good enough.
“I have been saying this repeatedly, these openers, the middle order aren’t good enough for us to get success at this level. What can I say? Pakistan have a bad captain. Pakistan is out of the world cup in the second game. Against Zimbabwe. Babar, come one down but he is not listening. Major flaw in Shaheen Afridi’s fitness. A major flaw in captaincy.
“What kind of cricket do you want to play? For god’s sake, you have lost to Zimbabwe. Don’t you understand your cricket is deteriorating? The management and the PCB chairman don’t have brains … We had to play 4 bowlers, and we played 3 fast bowlers. A proper middle order is needed, you are selecting something else,” he said.
Pakistan opted to play Shan Masood in place of Fakhar Zaman in their first two matches, which according to Akhtar was a bad move.
“Two good openers were needed who can use the 30-yard circle. Fakhar Zaman is sitting there; you didn’t use him. He is a back-foot player, and would do well in Australia…It’s really really embarrassing. Ultimately, it’s not you but we have to face the media. We have to sit in India. We have to give answers to the world. What answers can we give now? No plans, no middle order, no openers … I was saying if Zimbabwe bowled length balls, they would win here. I don’t have trust in this team,” he added.
