Pakistan cricket team is getting slammed from all corners including Shoaib Malik, Ramiz Raja after Zimbabwe skittles them out for 99 and pulls off a historic win.
Zimbabwe pulled off a monumental victory over Pakistan in the second T20I in Harare on Friday, beating them by 19 runs. Chasing just 119, Pakistan were cruising at 78/3 at one stage but Luke Jongwe rattled them with his 4-wicket haul to bowl Pak out for 99. Shoaib Malik was among the many prominent figures who lambasted the Pakistan Cricket team for this embarrassing loss.
Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik laid into the coaching staff headed by former cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq via his Twitter. Malik feels Pakistan captain Babar Azam and the chief selector should take the charge. He also expressed the need for a specialist white ball coach who understands the game inside out.
Shoaib Malik tweeted:
Malik, who last played for Pakistan in September 2020 stated that the current Pakistan management carries prejudices and makes decisions based on their likes and dislikes.
He added:
Another former Pakistan player, Ramiz Raja was extremely disappointed with the batters and called the loss as a ‘Dark moment in Pakistan cricket history’.
Dark moment in the history of Pakistan cricket. Pakistan players played reckless shots and there was no technique or partnership. Muzarabani was the only quality bowler in their line-up and if you get a chance to watch the replays you will see that our batting seemed so ordinary against him,
said the former player on his official YouTube channel.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was distraught after “a very painful performance”, terming it as a collective failure.
We played poor cricket and continued to struggle in the middle order. Today, it was not just the middle order but our batsmen right through couldn’t perform the way we expect them to. It was a collective collapse and we lost as a group. But credit to Zimbabwe who came back so strongly today,
Azam stated.
Pakistan’s middle-order woes are well documented. They have played Danish Aziz, Haider Ali, and Asif Ali in the middle order since the South Africa tour, but none of them have made any significant impact. It’s important to note that the management has also misused Haider Ali, batting him out of his best position of number 3.
Pakistan bowlers did an excellent job in restricting the opposition to a low total of 118 with all six bowlers taking at least one wicket each. Mohammad Hasnain was their pick of the bowler with his 2 for 19 in four overs.
Chasing a low target, Pakistan were at one stage on 78 for 3 down, but they were behind on the required run-rate. Zimbabwe’s Luke Jongwe dismissed Babar Azam, who scored 41 off 45 balls. Immediately the collapse began for Pakistan as they lost 7 wickets for just 21 runs in five overs. It was an incredible effort from Zimbabwe to pull this off and level the series 1-1. The series decider T20I will take place on Sunday at Harare.
