Due to two losses in the Super 4 round, Pakistan’s
performance in the 2023 Asia Cup was not excellent. The Babar Azam-led team was
unable to advance to the final. While they were completely outplayed by India,
who defeated them by 228 runs, the loss to Sri Lanka came after a hard-fought
game that was decided on the final ball. The team’s batting and bowling were
underwhelming, and former Pakistan cricketer Kamran Akmal thinks that if they
don’t make mental changes before the Cricket World Cup 2023, they could get
“thrashed badly” by rivals India and other teams.
“Mohammed Shami is on the bench, he doesn’t play in
this XI. That shows you it’s a complete bowling unit. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma
are in form, Shubman Gill scored a century recently, so it looks a solid
batting unit. I’ll just say that for the match we have on October 14, Pakistan
team need to plan really well to put them under pressure,” Kamran said on his
official YouTube channel.
“If they play with the same mentality as the Asia Cup,
and the way we played for the past three years, they’re going to get thrashed
badly. They need to prepare really well.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan legends Javed Miandad and Misbah
ul Haq on Tuesday defended Babar Azam, saying the captain should not be
squarely blamed for the below-par performance.
Talking to the media, Miandad and Misbah both advised
the country’s cricket authorities to not press the panic button. “Why
blame Babar Azam only when the rest of the team didn’t perform as well in the
Asia Cup matches against India and Sri Lanka,” Miandad said.
“Look our team is not as bad as it played in the
Asia Cup. It has plenty of potential to do well in the World Cup. Only thing is
how quickly our players cope and adjust to playing in Indian conditions before
big crowds and in a country where they will encounter some hostility,”
Miandad said.