The Pakistan cricket has shown below-par performances in the recent ICC events. During the ODI World Cup 2023, the team’s performance was questionable as it garnered massive criticism from fans and peers alike.
Similarly, in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024, the team Pakistan showed unconvincing and implausible performance.
They lost to co-host and World Cup debutants USA in their opening game before losing to Arch-rivals India in the second encounter. Pakistan hardly managed to win against Ireland and Canada. Hence, missing out on a qualification to the Super Eight whereas the likes of Afghanistan and USA made it to the next stage.
Pakistan was thought to be a dark horse of the tournament but they couldn’t live up to the expectation, leaving fans and pundits sad and angry.
Recently, Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Rizwan was asked if the criticism is valid on the team Pakistan has been under the radar of criticism for a while now.
Nevertheless, Rizwan has accepted the criticism and said it’s a part of the learning curve.
“The criticism team is facing is justified and we deserve this since we didn’t perform in accordance with expectations. Players who can’t face criticism won’t be able to succeed. We are disappointed with our performance in the T20 World Cup. There are multiple reasons behind our losses. Because if you see, sometimes we don’t finish well, sometimes our powerplay doesn’t go well, sometimes our death bowling doesn’t go well, sometimes our powerplay doesn’t go well. So, when a team wins, they perform well at the end of the match. So, you can’t say, what was our mistake? But we can say that as a team, we all didn’t play according to our expectations. Rizwan said during a press conference in Peshawar.
After the below par performance by the team even the chairman had used the word “surgery” hinting on the major changes in the coming future.
Sharing his two cents, Rizwan said its chairman had the right to decide the future of cricket in Pakistan.
“Operations are a normal thing. When a person is ill, operation is necessary. The PCB Chairman is a hard-working person. The decision about who will remain in the team and who will not is the chairman’s right,” he added
The wicket-keeper batter also brushed aside the rumors of politics in the Pakistan dressing room.
“People are saying that there’s some politics within the team, and there are some differences. If there were any differences, we have also lost games before. This is just outside chatter. This same team has played finals, semi-finals, but it is true that
we haven’t won a trophy,”
Rizwan also had a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign as he could only rack up 110 runs at an average of 36 and at an underwhelming strike rate of 90.
Pakistan’s next assignment is in August when they will take on Bangladesh in a Test match series at home. Recently, some players are featuring in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) while others are gearing up for the Major League Cricket and GT20 Canada.
