Enraged Wasim Akram: The former Pakistani captain has censured the Pakistani squad for this T20 World Cup.
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Frustration, sadness and outrage were some of the most common emotions coming out of the Pakistani cricketing fraternity after their unprecedented loss against Zimbabwe in ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 match yesterday.
Be it their current cricketers, former cricketers or fans, there was a sense of air flowing around to dampen their hopes. Mathematically still in contention to qualify for the semi-finals, Pakistan will have to do many things right themselves before expecting results of other teams’ matches going their way in order to play the next round.
Not that Pakistan’s current 15-member squad is perfect but it is way better than a team losing its first two matches to remain without a victory in the shortest format in Australia.
Enraged Wasim Akram rues Shoaib Malik’s absence from Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 squad
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram didn’t mince his words while expressing disappointment with the current squad. Among the analysts for A Sports back home, Akram highlighted how Pakistan’s middle-order had it in it to suffer in this World Cup.
Heavily reliant on opening batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, middle-order isn’t Pakistan’s strongest suit in this format. With captain Azam and wicket-keeper batter Rizwan failing together in consecutive matches, the same has started to get exposed after the first two matches itself.
Akram, in particular, also pointed out towards the absence of his co-analyst and former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik from this squad. Malik, 40, hasn’t played international cricket since Pakistan’s tour of Bangladesh almost a year ago.
Since his last international match, Malik has participated in Sri Lanka Premier League, Pakistan Super League and National T20 Cup scoring 769 runs in 29 innings at an average and strike rate of 34.95 and 141.10 respectively with the help of five half-centuries.
“What is my end goal? To win. Agar mujhe uske liye gadhe ko bhi baap banana padhe, main banaa lunga [I will do anything to achieve this goal] because I am going to win the World Cup,” Akram said on A Sports whilst also praising Malik’s record in Australia.
As a matter of fact, Malik has scored 558 runs at an average and strike rate of 29.36 and 60.91 respectively across 22 international innings (including four Test innings) down under.
