Srinagar: Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar while lashing out at Pakistan cricket team for the embarrassing defeat against Zimbabwe has said that India will also be thrown out of T20 World Cup next week.
Pakistan were beaten by Zimbabwe on Thursday and are now in danger of early exit from the tournament. They need to win ayl of their remaining matches and them still be dependent on other outcomes.
Coming hard on the team and its management Akhtar said that he has been saying it from day one that team will be out of tournament in first round.
“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.
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,”