Wasim Akram lashed out at Pakistan senior cricketers after the Babar Azam-led side lost to India by a narrow margin of six runs on Sunday. This loss puts Pakistan in danger of being knocked out from the group stage of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. Pakistan, who were chasing India's total of 119 runs, were in a good position at one point, needing 48 runs from 48 balls with eight wickets remaining.
However, the duo of Jasprit Bumrah (who took 3 wickets for 14 runs) and Hardik Pandya (who took 2 wickets for 24 runs) turned the game around for India with their effective bowling. Therefore, Pakistan lost wickets quickly and ended their innings at 113/7. Muhammad Rizwan (31) was the highest run-scorer for his team, but his dismissal proved to be the turning point of the match.
Akram demanded a complete change in the team to enhance the performance. He criticized Mohammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Fakhar Zaman for their lack of game awareness.
'They have been playing cricket for 10 years, and I can’t teach them. Rizwan has no game awareness. He should have known that Bumrah was given the ball to take wickets and that the wise thing would have been to play his deliveries cautiously. But Rizwan went for a big shot and lost his wicket.' Akram said.
'Iftikhar Ahmed knows one shot on the leg side. He has been a part of the team for years but doesn’t know how to bat.I can’t go and tell about the game awareness to Fakhar Zaman. Pakistani players think that if they don’t perform well, the coaches will be sacked, and nothing will happen to them. It is time to keep the coaches and change the entire team.' He added.
He also revealed Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi are not on talking terms since the change of captaincy.
'There are players who don’t want to talk to each other. This is international cricket, and you play for your country. Make these players sit at home,' he added.
