Former Pakistan cricketers Ramiz Raja and Shoaib Akhtar slammed Shoaib Malik after the Pakistan captain claimed that results against Australia didn’t matter following the team’s second straight loss in the ODI series in the United Arab Emirates.
Pakistan lost by eight wickets for a second time in threedays in Sharjah on Sunday to fall 2-0 behind in the five-match series.
Following another insipid bowling performance, Malik —leading the side in place of the rested Sarfraz Ahmed — claimed the series wasabout testing the team’s bench strength ahead of the World Cup this summer.
“To be honest, I think early strikes in our bowling is whatwe are lacking,” said Malik. “Overall, there are positives as we fought untilthe last ball. Since we have rested a lot of our players, we are trying otherplayers and these things happen in international cricket, especially when you areplaying a big team. It’s not about winning the series, it’s about testing ourbench strength.”
His comments drew the ire of Ramiz who termed themunbelievable.
“I couldn’t believe it, because if we don’t care about theresult, then why are we playing the series in the first place,” said the formerbatsman on a video on his YouTube channel Ramiz Speaks.
“If we don’t tell our youngsters how important their inningsof fifty or hundred runs is, if you don’t tell them how it contributes to thesuccess of the team, how will you create new champions,” questioned Ramiz, amember of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup winning squad.
Shoaib echoed Ramiz’s views, saying it was wrong of Malik togive such comments.
“He said wrong things during the presentation ceremony,”Shoaib, working as an analyst for the match at PTV Sports, said. “We shouldlearn that we need to say the right things at the right time as that matters alot.”
Shoaib added that the current performances of the team were”embarassing”, saying that the team needed to target setting bigger scoreswhile batting.
Ramiz, meanwhile, called the team to change their mindsetand come back fighting in the third match of the series in Abu Dhabi onWednesday.
A bright spot for Pakistan in the second match was seeing18-year-old debutant fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain briefly testing Australianopeners Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja, who largely enjoyed a stroll in theirchase of 285.
Hasnain stared Khawaja down after his first ball ininternational cricket went whistling past the Aussie’s ears. Another bouncerclattered into the helmet of Finch, who later copped one to the groin off theinside edge.
Hasnain’s fierce spell sparked a subdued Sharjah crowd intoexcitement for a short while and left legendary Pakistan paceman Waqar Younisthoroughly impressed.
“He’s got a very strong action, he’s fit,” said Waqar, inthe commentary box for the game. “He’s got a big future in front of him.”