Former Pakistan cricket team pacer Shoaib Akhtar has highly criticized the skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed and the management for their role in the defeat against India.
Talking on his YouTube channel, Akhtar claimed that Pakistan lost the advantage of winning the toss when Sarfaraz opted to bowl first. He claimed that it was the same mistakes India made in the ICC Champions Trophy and Pakistan repeated them on Sunday.
The mistakes committed by the Indian team during the Champions Trophy 2017 final were repeated by Pakistan today. I can’t understand how Sarfaraz can be so brainless. How could he forget that we don’t chase very well. Knowing our strength, which is bowling, is important. Toss was very crucial and even if Pakistan had made 260, with their bowling, they could have defended it.
He further added that if chasing was the plan all along then why did the captain and management not include an extra batsman in the team such as Haris Sohail? Akhtar said that Haris should have been in the team instead of Imad Wasim, who added no value against India.
Shoaib Akhtar also criticized Hasan Ali for his Wagha Border celebrations and said:
Hasan Ali, who never shies away from jumping around at the Wagah border did not have the same energy when he is on the field for Pakistan. He couldn’t apply himself when it mattered the most. Many of his deliveries were short-pitched.
His mindset seems to be: I want to keep playing T20s and the PSL. But in the World Cup 2019, we can see that he has not shown any pace or swing that could trouble batsmen.
Pakistan now have four remaining matches and if the Men in Green are to have any hope of qualification then they must win all their games and hope for the best.
