(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] The Pakistan cricket team is currently facing its lowest point, feeling the heat in India due to their poor performance in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. Former Pakistani cricketers, fans and even their media are showing no mercy to the Men in Green after their disappointing show in this quadrennial event. Under the leadership of Babar Azam, Pakistan have almost lost hope for reaching the knockout stage, having only four points from winning just two out of six matches.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently released a statement in which the governing body requested fans to support the team in the World Cup 2023. The statement also included a precautionary note for Babar Azam and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq in the end.
The last paragraph in the media release read, “Looking ahead, the board will make decisions in the best interest of Pakistan cricket based on the team’s performances in the World Cup.” This suggests that the PCB will scrutinize the team’s performance at the end of the event, after informing that Babar and Inzamam were given full authority to select players fir the World Cup.
In a recent development, an unnamed senior Pakistani player participating in the event in India opened up and reacted to the board’s tactics, suggesting that the they may want their team to underperform.
“The board wants the team to fail, they don’t want us to win the World Cup just so that they can make the changes and take control of who leads the team and who gets into the team,” a senior player told Cricbuzz.
This is the first time that Pakistan have lost four successive matches in the ODI World Cup. Most recently, on Friday, the 1996 World Cup champions, lost their match to South Africa by one wicket, marking the first time in seven attempts since 1999 that they lost a World Cup match (ODI+T20I) to Proteas. Before this loss against South Africa, they were also defeated by Afghanistan by eight wickets for the first time in the history of ODI cricket.
These dishonorable defeats by Pakistan have led to speculation about rifts between players inside the dressing room. It has been reported by the media that players have formed different groups. Speaking on this issue, the anonymous senior player revealed that fights and arguments between players are quite common.
“Whatever fights or arguments or disagreements we have within the team are quite common. We are all old and mature enough to deal with it by ourselves. We don’t need external interference. We understand what this tournament means to us, and that we have to play together to win it. But it doesn’t help when the talks within the dressing room get leaked outside by people with selfish interests within the board and are blown out of proportion. But I would be lying if I said all the talks on social media and by ex-cricketers don’t affect us,” he added.
He signed off by saying, “It’s not the best environment. We’re locked up in our hotels for long durations, getting booed at some grounds, and getting criticized by our fans and ex-cricketers because we’re not getting the results that we want. Yet we’re working hard, practicing every day to win the World Cup for our country. Yes, a lot is not going our way at the moment, but at a time when we need the support of our board, they are creating more trouble for us.”
Pakistan will play their next match against Bangladesh on October 31 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.