Kamran Akmal: “Pakistan has not won any matches in the World Cup where they opted to chase”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal has lashed out at captain Sarfraz Ahmed for choosing to bowl first in his side’s World Cup clash against India on Sunday.
The men in green allowed their arch-rivals to score 336/5, which was largely thanks to opener Rohit Sharma’s 140 and India captain Virat Kohli’s 77.
Pakistan ended up losing to India by 89 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, and India’s victory extended their unbeaten streak against Pakistan as they have now won all seven of their meetings against their arch-rivals in the World Cup.
To make matters worse, Pakistan have now only won one of the five World Cup games they have played.
Akmal noted that Pakistan don’t chase well and thus questioned why Sarfraz decided to bowl first after winning the toss.
“Pakistan has not won any matches in the World Cup where they opted to chase. The only victory for [the men in green] came against the tournament favourites England when we batted first and posted [more than] 300 plus runs on the board,” he told The Nation. “Against the West Indies, we were badly exposed and flattened [for a] meagre 105. Our batting badly flopped and all the flaws were exposed by the opponents.”
Akmal also admitted he was surprised to see Pakistan chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq inspecting the pitch ahead of the match.
“I am surprised to see the chief selector monitoring the pitch. What was the coach and captain doing if the chief selector is at the pitch and assessing how it would behave? It clearly means that the coach and captain are confused and don’t have any authority at all.
“The PCB must [also] answer a simple question [on] why it allows Inzamam to embark on every tour. It is not the chief selector’s fault, if the PCB allows anyone to travel on its expenses, nobody will say no.”
Pakistan’s next World Cup game will be against South Africa at Lord’s on Sunday.
[interaction id=”5c1d9088e5245c5b0b264d12″]