‘Mujhe gadhe ko bhi baap banana pare main banaunga’- Wasim Akram lashes out at Babar Azam for not picking Shoaib Malik for the 20-20 World Cup

Babar Azam and Wasim Akram: (Image Source: Twitter)

Zimbabwe caused a massive upset on Thursday after they defeated Pakistan by 1 run in the Super 12 encounter of the 20-20 World Cup. Despite restricting Zimbabwe to just 130 runs in the first innings, Pakistan couldn’t chase it down as they fell just 1 run short of the target.

Both the star openers, Babar Azam and M Rizwan got out cheaply, once again. Besides, the middle order continued to disappoint one and all with their performances. Iftikhar Ahmed, who batted admirably against India, got out for just 5 runs in 10 balls, while the likes of Shadab Khan (17), Haider Ali (0) and M Nawaz (22) also failed to help Pakistan cross the finishing line.

Following the defeat, the fans and the cricket experts from Pakistan slammed the team and the selectors for putting in a disappointing show at the World Cup.

Former Pakistan fast bowler, Wasim Akram pointed out the absence of Shoaib Malik in the team while criticizing Pakistan’s lacklustre middle-order. In an interaction with A Sports, Akram slammed Babar Azam for not being intelligent enough in picking the right members in the team.

“Ek saal se Pakistan, including us (Malik, Waqar Younis and Misbah ul Haq) knew that middle order slightly weak hai. Ab yeh ladka baitha hai Shoaib Malik. Main agar captain hota, mera end goal kya hota...to win the World Cup. Agar usskeliye mujhe gadhe ko bhi baap banana pare main banaunga beacuse mujhe World Cup jeetna hain. Agar mujhe Shoaib Malik chaiye toh main chairman and selector ko jaake kahunga ki I will not play World Cup if I don't get my player. But aisa koi hain nehin. Babar ko aur akalmand hona parega. Yeh woh moholle ki team nehin hai ki mera jaanne wala aa jayega. Agar main hota toh iss ladke ko (Malik) sabse pehle middle order main leta,” he said.

Pakistan have now lost both the matches that they have played so far and their hopes of reaching the semi-final look grim. The Men in Green ought to win next three games by big margins and also expect some other results to go their way if they are to reach the top-four.