T20 World Cup 2022: “Don’t know if he has any idea about T20s” - Shoaib Akhtar questions Saqlain Mushtaq’s credentials as Pakistan’s head coach
Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has raised questions about the credentials of Saqlain Mushtaq as the team's head coach. With reference to T20Is, he specifically pointed out that the former off-spinner had stopped playing international cricket before the format made its big-stage debut.
Saqlain’s last international match was in 2004, while the first T20I was played a year later. The 45-year-old was appointed interim coach after Misbah-ul-Haq quit last September. He continues to be in charge of the team.
On Thursday, September 15, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced their squad for the T20 World Cup to be played in Australia in October-November. While discussing the selections, Akhtar criticized the choice of coaches for the T20 World Cup. Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said:
“Looking at Pakistan’s coaches, Saqlain last played (international) cricket in 2002-03 (2004). I don’t know if he has any idea about T20s. He’s my friend and he won’t like what I am saying, but Saqlain, ‘this is not your forte’.”
The 47-year-old also speculated about the kind of influence batting coach Mohammad Yousuf has in the Pakistan dressing room. Posing another query, he added:
“If someone like Yousuf, who knows so much about cricket and batting is there, and the batting is still not performing, how can that happen? Yousuf is an asset in the dressing room, but I don’t know what kind of say he has in the team.”
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In another significant development, a few days back the PCB appointed former Australian opening batter Matthew Hayden as the team’s mentor for the T20 World Cup 2022. Hayden performed a similar role during the last T20 World Cup in the UAE.
"What team has the Pakistan board selected?" - Akhtar
Shifting focus to Pakistan’s team selection for the T20 World Cup, he slammed the PCB for picking an average squad. The Rawalpindi Express commented:
“Average people cannot be expected to come up with extraordinary decisions. This is the story of the Pakistan cricket team. What team has the Pakistan board selected? When the chief selector is average, his decision will also be average.”
Akhtar elaborated that Pakistan’s problem has been their middle-order, but there has hardly been any change in it for the ICC event. Taunting the PCB, he said:
“Pakistan’s problem was its middle-order. They (PCB) said they would sort it out. What they basically meant was, ‘we would make such a bad decision that we would not change the middle-order at all’.”
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Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan (vc), Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Usman Qadir.
Reserves: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris and Shahnawaz Dahani.