Shoaib Akhtar makes bold remarks about Pakistan’s chances of getting knocked out in the first round of the T20 World Cup 2022

Shoaib Akhtar says Pakistan may get knocked out of the T20 World Cup in the first round, according to Shoaib Akhtar: Pakistan announced their 15-strong squad for next month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to be held in Australia. After recovering from a knee injury, Shaheen Afridi will be able to join the team once again. Shan Masood, who has been in great form recently, was also under a lot of pressure from fans and the cricket fraternity to be picked, and he did manage to achieve his goal as well.

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has taken aim at both Pakistan’s chief selector Mohammad Wasim and the team’s coach Saqlain Mushtaq following the announcement of the squad for the Twenty20 World Cup 2022. Shoaib Akhtar posted a video on his YouTube channel on Thursday, in which he raged against the selectors of the Pakistani team and the head coach of the team in the video.

The Rawalpindi Express reported that in spite of the fact that our middle order has been exposed by Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup, the team remains unchanged. The chief selector has put forth a disappointing squad and the problem is the middle order.

The views of Shoaib Akhtar on the Pakistani team’s selectors

Shoaib Akhtar opened up with some heavy words. He said, “It is commonly known that average people like average people, and we should not expect extraordinary decisions from average people.  In my opinion, Saqlain (Mushtaq) hasn’t played cricket for quite a few years now, and I do not want to say this about him, as he is a close friend of mine, but I do not think he is familiar with T20 cricket. My suggestion is that this is not your forte,” he added, “while you, Mohammad Yousuf, are part of the team at the moment.”. So, how can our batting perform if he is part of the team at the moment? Yousuf is an asset in the dressing room, but I am not sure how much of an influence he has on the team as a whole. Iftikhar Ahmed is the sequel to Misbah. There was Rizwan and now he has Iftikhar working for him, so inshallah, he has a good team to work with.”

In his recent comments, Shoaib Akhtar particularly criticized the selectors for leaving Fakhar Zaman out of the main team with Babar Azam being the opener, instead choosing to keep him as a reserve player instead. There have been millions of times I have emphasized the importance of giving six overs to Fakhar Zaman, since the Australian conditions will suit him well and keep Babar at the top of the order,” Akhtar said.

It is quite clear that if this is how you want to come to Australia, then Australia is not going to stand by you with flowery faces. I believe that if this team is selected, we may end up getting knocked out in the first round itself. There is no depth in our batting, and as a result, I am scared,” he explained.

Additionally, he mentioned the Pakistani captain, Babar Azam, saying, “Our captain is not cut out for this format, as he is always looking for classic cover drives in this format.”. During a later conversation with him, he stated that “If the Pakistani team did not perform well in Australia with this batting line-up or were exposed again, then I think that not only the Pakistani selectors and coaches but also Rameez Raja, the Chairman of PCB, will not be around until November if this batting line-up does not perform well.”

Lastly, he concluded that this World Cup will be very challenging for Pakistan because of the middle order that they are going to put together. Against a team like India in the first match, there are other teams too, not just India, who will be competing that time as well. I wish the team the best of luck, but I am utterly, utterly angry over the selection that has been made.”