Zimbabwe produced a herculean effort to defeat Pakistan by 1 run in the T20 World Cup on Thursday. Defending a lowly 131-run target, Zimbabwe bowlers struck early blows dismissing in-form openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan cheaply, and rattled past the middle-order to help the side achieve a dramatic victory in Perth. With successive losses in the tournament – the first being against India last Sunday – Pakistan's hopes for a semi-final qualification have now taken a major hit.
Touted among the favourites ahead of the tournament, Pakistan are likely to rely on favourable results of the other teams in their group, while ensuring a win in all of their remaining games to secure a semi-final spot. Justifiably, the Pakistan fans are disappointed with the side's performances and even the cricketers didn't hide their frustration.
Mohammad Amir, Pakistan's star pacer who has represented the side in all three formats in the past, posted a strongly-worded tweet on Pakistan Cricket Board's chairman Ramiz Raja and chief selector Muhammad Wasim following the loss to Zimbabwe.
“From day one I said poor selection ab is cheez ki responsibility kon le ga I think it's time to get rid of so called chairman jo PCB ka khuda bana hua hai and so called chief selector. (From day one, I said it's a poor selection. Who will take the responsibility? I think it's time to get rid of the so-called PCB chairman who thinks he is the god, as well as the so-called chief selector),” Amir wrote.
When Pakistan's squad for the T20 World Cup was announced, Amir had made a strong “cheap selector ka cheap selection” remark, registering his strong disagreement with the players in the 15-member team.
{{/usCountry}}When Pakistan's squad for the T20 World Cup was announced, Amir had made a strong “cheap selector ka cheap selection” remark, registering his strong disagreement with the players in the 15-member team.
{{/usCountry}}Pakistan have their matches remaining against Netherlands (October 30), South Africa (November 3), and Bangladesh (November 6). With no wins so far, the side is fifth in the points table in Group 2 – only ahead of the Netherlands due to a superior Net Run Rate. India, meanwhile, are at the top in the group with four points, followed by South Africa (3 points), Zimbabwe (3 points), and Bangladesh (2 points).