Legendary pacer Shoaib Akhtar lost his cool in an on-air television program following Pakistan’s latest Test loss, which saw them go down to England by an innings and 47 runs in Multan on Friday. In his scathing attack against the current state of Pakistan cricket, Akhtar didn’t identify any specific incidents but ran amok against both the playing and management sides. He laments that the team has been steadily declining for the past decade and states the present crop of players “aren’t good enough.” He fears Pakistan will lose Test status and believes the condition of Pakistan’s Test Cricket to be “disheartening.”
Pakistan’s Never-Ending Struggles In Test Cricket
“You will reap what you sow. Over the decades, I have seen the decline. The situation is disappointing. Losing is fine, but the game should be close. However, what we saw over the past two days, they completely gave up hope. This shows that we aren’t good enough. England scored 800+ and Bangladesh also beat you,” Akhtar said during a live discussion on PTV Sports.
“Fans are saying that Pakistan should withdraw from WTC. I saw some comments. ICC must be thinking ‘should we send teams to Pakistan and keep their Test status alive’. It’s just disheartening. This is going to hurt Pakistan cricket, fans and the upcoming talents. I want to request the PCB to sort out this mess,” he added.
Akhtar Slams PCB For Poor Management
Akhtar called upon the PCB, on chairman Mohsin Naqvi in particular, to take severe steps in reinforcing the cricketing environment of the nation. Reports of factionalism within the team have continued to affect the game because different players are jostling for the captainship.
Talking about these problems, Akhtar highlighted the fact that if management is afraid of the captain, then the process of groupism will continue prospering and will ultimately discourage the growth of the team. It has been 1,331 days since Pakistan last won a Test victory, and their last win was back in February 2021 when they were facing South Africa in Rawalpindi under the leadership of Babar Azam.
“If your management and captain are weak, there will be groupism. If the captain is selfish, there will be groupism. Same is the case if the coaches are afraid of the captain. The captain calls the shot when it comes to selection. This has been the culture since my playing days,” Akhtar further explained.
Pakistan At The Bottom In WTC Rankings
All the hopes for Pakistan to make it to WTC Final vanished after England completely thrashed Pakistan. Currently Pakistan is at the bottom with number 9 position in the ICC WTC Rankings.
Pakistan remains on the bottom as the country has won just two tests of eight. Captain Shan Masood’s sixth successive test defeat has, practically, derailed the country’s hopes of entry into the WTC final. The match also represents the sixth successive Test defeat for Pakistan and their seventh consecutive loss at home in the last eleven matches, which strengthens the notion that they are struggling in the longest version of the game.
