Who said what - top 5 expert reactions to Pakistan’s group-stage exit in 2024 T20 World Cup ft. Wasim Akram
The 30th match of the 2024 T20 World Cup, scheduled between the United States of America and Ireland, was abandoned due to the rain. The points were divided between the two teams, which meant the USA qualified for the Super 8s, while the last-edition runners-up, Pakistan, along with Canada and Ireland, were knocked out.
Pakistan needed to win their last couple of games and still depend on the outcomes of other teams to qualify after losing their opening two matches against the United States and India.
With a target of 159 to defend, Pakistani bowlers made a game out of it and took the match to the Super Over in their opening match against the United States. However, Mohammad Amir bowled a below-par over as he conceded 18 runs. Meanwhile, Saurabh Netravalkar was on fire for the USA, as they won the Super Over by five runs.
Then, the Men in Green faced arch-rivals India in a must-win game. Pakistani bowlers bowled brilliantly and restricted India to 119 runs. Babar Azam's team was in the right direction till the 14th over, as they needed 40 runs off the last six with seven wickets in hand. However, Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Mohammad Rizwan in the 15th over, and Pakistan lost their path. Eventually, they fell short by six runs.
Pakistan defeated Canada in their third match, but they needed the United States to lose their last match, which was called off due to the rain. This earned the States a much-needed point, which helped them qualify for the next stage.
As the Men in Green get eliminated, let’s take a look at the top five experts' reactions to their early exit in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
#5 Mohammad Kaif
The former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif expressed his views after the early exit of the Pakistan team from the T20 World Cup. He opined that no one is supporting the Pakistani team, be it their fans or former players.
During a discussion with Star Sports, he stated:
"The fans' prayers are not with them. There is a commotion there. Who is supporting them? Everyone is standing against them, whether you talk about their former players, I am watching everything, no one is supporting them, although they have played extremely badly."
#4 Ahmad Shahzad
Ahmed Shahzad, who last represented the Men in Green in 2019, took to X and said that deserving teams are through to the Super 8 round and that Pakistan don’t deserve to qualify.
"The deserving team is through to Super 8 round. If you're depending on Ireland to defeat someone, you seriously don't deserve to qualify. Don't think even "Kudrat Ka Nizam" works for those who are not deserving or ready to improve. All eyes on PCB chairman now," he wrote.
#3 Wasim Akram
Cricketer-turned-commentator Wasim Akram reacted to the early exit of the Men in Green and congratulated the United States of America for qualifying for the next round. In a video uploaded by the ICC, he said:
"Yeah, absolutely. And congratulations to Team USA. They've done amazingly well when you talk about globalisation of the game. This is it USA qualifying for Super Eights. They deserve to be there. They had beaten Pakistan in the round match. So they are there. And for Pakistan, what's the plan? EK 601 to Dubai and then to the respective cities. And then we see what happens from there onwards.”
#2 Michael Vaughan
The former England captain, Michael Vaughan, opined that Pakistan should have won their game against India, and that they were very poor towards the back end of the game versus the USA. He also stated that he doesn't see Pakistan as a quality white-ball team at the moment.
During a discussion on Cricbuzz, he stated:
"They can’t blame the weather; they should have beaten the United States; they should have beaten India. I don’t think they get close to India; they should have won that game. In the game against the United States, they were poor. They were really poor down the back end, defending that four of the last ball. It was just typical Pakistan; they just panicked. I don’t see Pakistan at the minute as a great white-ball team."
"You look around the teams around the world now. You look at Pakistan compared to Australia, England, the West Indies, and probably South Africa in that group now; India obviously. I would say they’re good enough to be in the Super 8s but they lost a couple of bad games here, and they’re a long way short of being a quality white-ball team at the minute," he continued.
#1 Mohammad Hafeez
Mohammad Hafeez also took a dig at the Men in Green after their early exit from the tournament. In a tweet that has since gone viral, the former Pakistani player wrote:
"Qurbani Kay Janwar Hazir Hon (Time to present the sacrificial animals) #PakistanCricket"
Pakistan will take on Ireland in their last group-stage match on June 16 in Lauderhill, Florida.