"It is time to keep the coaches and change the entire team" - Wasim Akram blasts Pakistan after embarrassing defeat to India in T20 World Cup
Legendary Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram couldn't fathom the Men in Green not being able to chase down 120 against India in their T20 World Cup encounter in New York on Sunday, June 9. Pakistan could only muster 113/7 as they faced the second defeat of their campaign.
Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the Indian bowlers as his sensational figures of 3/14 included the big wickets of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed. Ifthikar couldn't smash a full toss from Bumrah over square leg as Arshdeep Singh completed a great catch.
Speaking to Star Sports after the game, here's what Wasim Akram had to say about Iftikhar Ahmed and the Pakistan players:
“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."
Akram also shockingly claimed that Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi haven't been on talking terms ever since the fast bowler was sacked from the T20I captaincy and feels that has divided the team from within.
"He has no game awareness" - Wasim Akram on Mohammad Rizwan
Wasim Akram was baffled to see Mohammad Rizwan try and take down Jasprit Bumrah when the latter returned for his third over. Rizwan lost his stumps while trying to slog Bumrah and that was the opening India desperately needed while defending 40 runs off 36 balls.
On this, Akram stated:
"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."
With USA and India having already won both their opening games, Pakistan will need to win their remaining games by a big margin and then hope for some other results to go their way.