Shoaib Akhtar downhearted by Pakistan’s shambolic show against Zimbabwe during their second match of the T20 World Cup 2022.
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Just when almost whole of Pakistan were assured that Thursday it will be, when their team would register their maiden T20I victory on Australia soil, they have been handed the most unlikeliest of disappointment, as a lower-ranked, yet high-in-spirit Zimbabwean side have defeated Babar Azam’s men by 1 run, to cause yet another major upset in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022.
Pakistan, for the second time in a row, found themselves on the wrong side of the result off the final delivery of the contest, as they lost only their second T20I ever against the African nation in history.
After a commendable effort with the ball which restricted Zimbabwe to a modest total of 130/8 in their 20 Overs, the score was perfect for the successful Pakistani opening pair of skipper Babar Azam (4 off 9) and Mohammed Rizwan (14 off 16). But, despite spending significant time at the crease as per T20 format standards, they yet again headed back towards the dug-out within the Powerplay, to hand the task to the middle-order batters, who anyway would be blamed in case the team loses.
However, the pair of Shan Masood (44 off 38) and Shadab Khan (17 off 14) did manage to hold the innings together and steadily march towards the Zimbabwean total. But, the experienced Pakistan-origin Zimbabwean star allrounder Sikandar Raza (4-0-25-3), had some other plans with the ball in hand tonight.
Raza, not only dismissed Khan, and then Haider Ali (0 off 1) off consecutive deliveries during the 14th Over, but then as if poured the entire bucket of water on the remaining Pakistani hopes by getting rid of Masood as well in the next Over.
Mohammad Nawaz yet again fails to finish things off
Mohammad Nawaz (22 off 18), who had a perfect opportunity to even things out tonight after failing to defend 16 runs off the final Over against India last Sunday, failed to take his side home yet again, getting caught at mid-off with 3 runs required off the last two deliveries.
With Shaheen Afridi managing to score a single off the final delivery, Pakistan agonizingly fell short by 1 run, to leave the camp and the fans at the stadium shell-shocked with despair.
Shoaib Akhtar downhearted by Pakistan’s loss versus Zimbabwe in T20 World Cup 2022
Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, stated Pakistan’s loss tonight as ’embarrassing, to be most polite’, resulting due to a flop show by the batters at the Perth Stadium.
He also posted a short video on his social media handle, slamming the average players in the squad, the average team management, and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in general.
Akhtar had, a month ago slammed the PCB pertaining some of the Pakistan squad selections for the ongoing World Cup, and had predicted that the team will be badly exposed in Australia during the tournament. The 47-year-old made sure that that he did bring back this particular remark after the team’s embarrassing show tonight.
Expressing his disappointment further, Akhtar slammed team Pakistan by exclaiming that just because its Zimbabwe who are up against them, doesn’t mean that the win is all but guaranteed.
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