Legendary bowler Shoaib Akhtar didn’t hold his words back after Pakistan suffered a defeat by an innings and 47 runs against England in Multan. Following the defeat, Akhtar suggested that Pakistan’s cricket has been on a downward trajectory over the last decade or so, and even claimed that the current crop of players are “not good enough”.
“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.
Akhtar also warned PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi and asked him to take the required steps for the betterment of the condition of cricket in the country.
“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,” Akhtar said.
Akhtar also gave his opinion on the speculations of groupism within the team and said that when the management is afraid of the captain, issues like these will continue to harm the progress of the team.
“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 said.
