"What is there in your batting order?" - Aakash Chopra on Pakistan's exit from the 2024 T20 World Cup
Aakash Chopra reckons Pakistan's 'extremely ordinary' batting was one of their shortcomings in the 2024 T20 World Cup. The Men in Green were knocked out of the tournament after the United States of America's clash against Ireland in Florida on Friday, June 14, was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Pakistan suffered defeats against the USA and India in their first two Group A games. Although they beat Canada in their third match, Pakistan needed Ireland to defeat the USA to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Super Eights alive.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra noted that Pakistan's batting is decent for ODIs but not for T20Is.
"Pakistan had a lot of shortcomings because if you see the batting order, what is there in your batting order? If you see it from ODI cricket perspective, it is decent batting, which includes Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed, but what else? There is nothing," he said (2:30).
While acknowledging that Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam are consistent players, the former India opener pointed out that Pakistan lack an explosive batter.
"I don't remember when we saw this team having such ordinary batting but this is extremely ordinary. There is no striker. You will, of course, see consistent players in Rizwan and Babar, but other than that, the batting order seemed to be a total disorder," Chopra observed.
Rizwan (93) and Babar (90) are the only Pakistan players to aggregate more than 50 runs in their first three games. Even Rizwan and Babar have been criticized for their below-par strike rates, with the former's dismissal while attempting a wild hoick off Jasprit Bumrah's bowling also potentially costing Pakistan a win against India.
"They called Imad Wasim for sure but he couldn't do anything" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra noted that Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Imad Wasim failed to deliver, with Pakistan's bowling also found wanting against the USA.
"Shadab Khan's bowling is not working at all these days. Iftikhar Ahmed is not scoring runs. They called Imad Wasim for sure but he couldn't do anything. The bowling is still decent but what will you do with that? You could have done as 159 wasn't a bad total. You could have defended that but you couldn't," he said in the same video (3:05).
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that some former Pakistan players' wish to get an opportunity to criticize the current lot has been fulfilled.
"Then you lost in the Super Over as well. Pakistan have a lot to think about. You have time to think. It seems like many Pakistan cricketers are waiting for them to lose so that they can criticize them. So everyone is ready to criticize them now and they will be criticized wholeheartedly," Chopra stated.
Chopra noted that Pakistan even recalled Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir out of retirement due to their CPL (Caribbean Premier League) experience but the team couldn't reach the West Indies. He added that the last edition's finalists need to do a lot of soul-searching.