Fast bowling legend Wasim Akram has lashed out at Pakistan cricket team following their historic defeat to USA in a T20 World Cup clash on Thursday. In what was their first ever meeting in international cricket, former champion Pakistan lost to USA in a contest that was decided by Super Over.
Put in to bat first, Pakistan lost Mohammad Rizwan, Usman Khan and Fakhar Zaman in 4.3 overs that left them struggling at 26/3. A solid partnership between captain Babar Azam (44 off 43) and Shadab Khan (40 off 25) led the recovery but once it was broken, the 2009 winners slipped again and managed 159/7 in 20 overs.
“Pathetic performance. Winning and losing is a part of the game. But you need to fight till the last ball. It was a bad for Pakistan cricket,” Akram told Star Sports.
USA then finished with 157/3 with their captain Monank Patel hitting a solid fifty as the contest ended in a tie.
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In the Super Over, USA belted 18 runs and then stopped Pakistan at 13/1 to secure a thrilling five-run win. Akram predicted that Pakistan will struggle to enter the Super-8 stage following the performance.
“Pakistan will struggle from here onwards to qualify for the Super Eight because they have to play India (on June 9) and two more good teams (Ireland and Canada),” he said.
Akram feels that the turning point of the contest was USA landing multiple blows inside the Powerplay.
“The turning point of the game…the way USA got early wickets. Pakistan had a little partnership between Babar and Shadab and then nobody turned up. The fielding was below average, the overall cricket by Pakistan was average,” he said.
“While playing against USA, I was confident, every Pakistan supporter was confident that they will win after the way they played in the first innings. In the second innings, they (USA) came out to chase…I mean getting 19 runs in the Super Over is like getting 36 runs in a Super Over. Well done USA,” he added.
Akram praised Monank for how he led his team.
“The moment of the day for me was the innings of USA captain Monank Patel, the way he batted…carried his bat. The way he used his suit as in he led from the front. Their fielding was spot-on every time, and very impressive cricket from the USA,” Akram said.
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