T20 World Cup 2022: “Time to get rid of so called chairman” - Mohammad Amir lashes out at PCB after Pakistan’s shocking loss to Zimbabwe
Former Pakistani pacer Mohammad Amir has hit out at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) following the national team’s one-run defeat to Zimbabwe in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 match on Thursday, October 27. In a strongly-worded tweet, he sought the sacking of PCB chairman Ramiz Raja and chief selector Muhammad Wasim.
Following their four-wicket defeat to India in their opening Super 12 encounter in Melbourne, Pakistan needed to beat Zimbabwe in Perth to have a strong chance of qualifying for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup. Despite needing only 131 for victory, they faltered in the chase and finished on 129/8.
Reacting to the stunning defeat, Amir, who has had a love-hate relationship with the Pakistan board, lashed out at the management over poor team selection. He took to his official Twitter handle and wrote:
“From day one I said poor selection ub is cheez ki responsibility kon le ga (Who will take responsibility for this now). I think it's time to get rid of so called chairman jo pcb ka khuda bana hwa hai (chairman has become god of PCB) and so called chief selector.”
from day one I said poor selection ub is cheez ki responsibility kon le ga I think it's time to get rid of so called chairman jo pcb ka khuda bana hwa hai and so called chief selector.
Earlier, Amir had also taken a dig at the PCB after the selectors had announced the 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup. He had tweeted back then:
“Chief selector ki cheap selection 😆.”
Pakistan’s overdependence on openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan was one of the key worries for the team ahead of their T20 World Cup campaign. The prolific duo perished cheaply against both India and Zimbabwe, exposing the brittle middle order.
“Very disappointing performance” - Pakistan skipper Babar Azam
Reacting to the shoddy performance, Pakistan captain Babar admitted that his team put up a very disappointing effort, especially in the batting department. Speaking at the post-match press conference, he said:
“Very disappointing performance, we are not up to the mark in batting. We have good batters but both openers got out in the powerplay. Shadab and Shan were building a partnership. Unfortunately, Shadab got out and then back-to-back wickets that pushed us into pressure situation.”
On the bowling performance, he added:
“First 6 overs, we haven't used the new ball well but we finished well with the ball. We will sit out, discuss our mistakes and we will train hard and come back strong in our next game.”
Having suffered back-to-back losses, Pakistan will next take on the Netherlands in Perth on Sunday, October 30.