Pakistan proved to be weak against India, as in previous World Cups. Captain Agha made some serious mistakes. Agha had won the toss and invited India to bat first, which ultimately proved to be a mistake. Pakistan lost that match by 61 runs.
What you should know
Pakistan's T-20 World Cup journey has come to a complete halt and that means the team could not reach the semi-finals. Pakistan is accused of not understanding T-20 cricket. Captain Salman Agha is also said to be a non-T-20 cricketer.
Not only that, Pakistan has batted slowly in this World Cup. On top of that, the team's all-rounders have performed poorly in the aggressive format. Former wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal feels that Pakistan's level in T-20 cricket is far behind teams like India, West Indies, South Africa and England. He says, 'The Pakistani team and players did not look suitable for T-20 cricket. I feel like the Pakistani team was playing on the moon, while we are on Earth.' We only beat the weak team, but we lost against the big team.'
Before the World Cup, Pakistan had defeated Australia 3-0 in the warm-up series at home, so the team was excited. Pakistan also had a Sri Lankan pitch-friendly spin bowler who could help the bowlers. Again, all of Pakistan's matches were in Sri Lanka. But the team was under pressure in the first match against the Netherlands. Fortunately, Pakistan won that match by three wickets.
The credit for this went to Faheem Ashraf, who scored 29 runs off 11 balls. But like in previous World Cups, Pakistan proved weak against India. Captain Agha also made some serious mistakes. This was the same match that Pakistan initially said they would boycott, but later agreed to play at the last moment. Agha had won the toss and invited India to bat first, and this ultimately proved to be a mistake. Pakistan lost that match by 61 runs.
Agha used his key player, mystery spinner Usman Tariq, only in the 11th over. By then, Ishan Kishan had scored a decisive 77 runs in the match and India had managed to set a winning score. Another former Pakistan player Wasit Ali questioned, ‘It is difficult to understand why Pakistan chose to bowl first on a pitch suitable for batting. After India posted a score of 175 runs, the Pakistani players came under pressure.’
The Pakistani captain did not even give Tariq a second over against England, even though he had taken a wicket in his first over. As a result, English captain Harry Brooks scored a decisive century. Akmal also admits that he proved to be weak as a captain. He also sees coach Mike Hesson and the selectors as equally guilty.
He says, ‘Coach Henson did not do the right thing.’ He chose all-rounders who could neither bat nor bowl properly.' Trusting Babar Azam, who had lost his rhythm for Pakistan, also proved to be a mistake. His slow batting had created problems in the team's rhythm. He was not even included in the team in the last match against Sri Lanka. Without him, Pakistan scored more than 200 runs.
But that did not mean anything in the end because New Zealand left Pakistan behind in net run rate. Saud Baloch, a Pakistani supporter who left his job in the UAE to watch Pakistan play in the World Cup, said, 'We are all fans of Azam. But he could not play according to the demands of T-20 cricket. All Pakistani fans are not only disappointed right now, they are very angry. But what we know is that nothing will change in Pakistani cricket and we will be sad again in the future.'
