Legendary paceman Wasim Akram called for immediate drastic measures to save Pakistan cricket as they face exit from the Champions Trophy after a humiliating defeat against India in Dubai on Sunday.
The Mohammad Rizwan led team have now lost two out of two and rely on other results to keep hopes of a semi-final place alive. Wasim said Pakistan must take quick and strong steps.
Enough is enough, we need quick and drastic steps to lift our cricket or else we will not be able to compete at the top level. I don’t know about surgery but steps need to be taken quick and fast if we want to save our cricket which has been our pride and the only sport we have.
Akram told Telecom Asia Sport (www.telecomasia.net)
Wasim believed Pakistan needed to overhaul the team.
We are playing with the same set of players in white-ball cricket and are losing with them so why not bring in new and young players so that even if we lose they get mature with time and experience.
Akram said
Look at India, the way they are playing in white-ball cricket is amazing. Their players have that skillset and the intent to be extraordinary and they are winning titles. They have a good pool of players and are dominating. India was superior in all three departments and were looking confident while our players looked out of sorts and under pressure. We all know that the team that handles the pressure well in an Indo-Pak game takes the match, then why they failed to handle the pressure.
Akram added
Wasim is one of Pakistan's most successful players, having won the ODI World Cup under Imran Khan in Australia in 1992. He then led Pakistan to runners-up finish in the 1999 World Cup in the UK. Wasim believed it was high time to overhaul the team.
Now is the time to not only take bold steps but change the set of players. Bring in players who can play fearless cricket. Even if you need to change five to six players then do it. We have been supporting these players even when they were losing big time.
Akram said
Wasim said Pakistan must start to build towards the 2026 Twenty20 World Cup to be held in India and Sri Lanka.
We have just a year to go for the T20I World Cup so we need to bring in new players and start preparing for that event. Now is the time to build a new team and move on. The PCB chairman must call the head coach and the captain to analyse the causes of defeat and bring in new players.
Akram said
Akram said captain Mohammad Rizwan must also share the blame for this poor show.
The captain is also responsible as he is the leader of the ship. He doesn't know who are his match winners and who does not knows the conditions which is really very embarrassing.
Wasim speaking about Rizwan said
