Zaheer Abbas: “We could have played in the semi-finals, if we [had] proper planning and kept in mind the [net] run rate”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas believes there are three key reasons why the national team failed to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals.

The first reason he pointed out was the fact that no one paid any attention to the team’s net run rate, which came back to haunt the men in green as New Zealand edged them out for the final spot in the last four since they had a superior net run rate.

As for the second and third reasons, Abbas said that Pakistan “took [their] early matches very easy” and didn’t have their team for the event confirmed until the very last moment.

“Everybody witnessed Pakistan’s performance [at] the World Cup,” he told The Nation. “Nobody bothered to pay heed towards maintaining [a positive] run rate. After the first match humiliation against the West Indies, the team management and coaches were sleeping and never paid heed towards ensuring Pakistan won matches [by] big margins. We could have played in the semi-finals, if we [had] proper planning and kept in mind the [net] run rate.

“Pakistan played the World Cup without any planning. [They] took [their] early matches very easy, which cost them dearly later. The players were in total disarray. Two main players – Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz were not part of the team and they were inducted later.

“Every country who was playing in [the] major event had finalised their squads [long before], but Pakistan was wondering till the very end and that cost us badly as despite winning matches against top teams, [they] had to go home [after the group] stage.”

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