Iqbal Qasim: “I fail to understand why Asif Ali was forced to sit out”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Former Pakistan left-arm spinner Iqbal Qasim slammed the national team for not picking big-hitting batsman Asif Ali for their World Cup opener against the West Indies.

Pakistan were skittled out for 105 after being put in to bat first and the West Indies proceeded to win the match by seven wickets with 218 balls to spare.

Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam were the top scorers as they both made 22 runs, while Wahab Riaz chipped in with a quickfire 18 at the end.

Mohammad Hafeez was the only other batsman to reach double figures as he made 16.

Qasim noted that Asif has been in good form as of late and could have made a huge difference by providing some much-needed runs for Pakistan in the match.

“I fail to understand why Asif Ali was forced to sit out; he was amongst the runs and had scored back-to-back half centuries,” Qasim told The Nation. “Unfortunately, his daughter passed away and he had to rush to Pakistan, but he had joined the team and he was hitting the ball quite well.

“Pakistan badly need a power hitter in the absence of the Akmal brothers and Asif could have handled the West Indian pace attack well as the West Indian bowlers had targeted Pakistan’s batsmen.

“They had identified areas and were bowling on the body, which [made it] hard for Pakistani batsmen [to play]. I still feel it was not extraordinary bowling, but fearful batting, poor selection of strokes and no planning at all [that] cost [Pakistan] badly. They need to regroup and for me, all are to [blame] for such a highly pathetic defeat.”

Pakistan’s next match will be against hosts England in Nottingham on Monday.

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