It was a disastrous outing for Pakistan in their T20 World Cup match against Zimbabwe on Thursday. The side faced a heartbreaking 1-run defeat to the men in maroon in Perth, suffering a second-successive defeat at the marquee tournament in the Super 12 stage. The Babar Azam-led side had earlier faced a four-wicket loss to arch-rivals India on Sunday; with two losses on the bounce, their hopes for a semi-final qualification have now taken a massive hit.
Despite restricting the Zimbabwean side to a paltry 130/8 in 20 overs, Pakistan failed to chase down the lowly score after their openers, Babar and Mohammad Rizwan – who have stepped up for the side more often than not – failed with the bat again, as they were dismissed on 4 and 14 respectively. Except Shan Masood (44), no other Pakistan batter in the middle-order failed to make a mark, as Zimbabwe registered a historic win in Perth.
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Interestingly, the Pakistan middle-order had been the subject of intense scrutiny over the past few months. There were calls made by numerous former cricketers for the inclusion of Shoaib Malik, but the selection committee stuck with the existing middle-order despite uninspiring performances in the position.
Following the debacle against Zimbabwe, former Pakistan bowler Aaqib Javed lashed out at the PCB selection committee, going to the extent of claiming that had Shoaib Malik been the part of the middle-order, the side would've won both of its matches against India and Zimbabwe.
{{/usCountry}}Following the debacle against Zimbabwe, former Pakistan bowler Aaqib Javed lashed out at the PCB selection committee, going to the extent of claiming that had Shoaib Malik been the part of the middle-order, the side would've won both of its matches against India and Zimbabwe.
{{/usCountry}}“Agar Malik iss team me hota.. vo sabse zyada fit hai, aur sabse zyada usko game-awareness hain. Ye dono match ham jeet jaate,” Aaqib said on Geo News.
The comment from the former Pakistan bowler came after Imad Wasim spoke in length about the need to prioritise game-awareness over fitness, with the side's former wicketkeeper-batter Moin Khan acknowledging the statement.
Malik played for Pakistan in the side's previous T20 World Cup campaign, but hasn't made a single appearance in the shortest format of the game for the side this year.