A team that performs poorly on the field and with the ball, led by ineffective captaincy, deserves nothing less than humiliation. Good batting, decent bowling, very poor fielding, and absolutely pathetic captaincy. He let 282 runs slip away, despite having a world-class bowling lineup at his disposal, with only 2 players causing the damage. Afghanistan played with great patience, fielded well, and won.
Player of The Match
How innocent Ibrahim Zadran is! He was hoping that maybe the Afghans have bought Pakistan. Whether they indulge in extortion, smuggling, or terrorism here, Pakistan cannot tell them to leave. They had forgotten that when no country in the world accepted the Afghans, it was Pakistan that came to their aid.
Conclusion
Putting Pandya in his place, Shami took five wickets. We played Usama Mir instead of Shadab, whose line and length were even worse than Shadab’s. Besides line and length, he lacked the bowling finesse. Flippers, googlies, etc. were missing.
I was considering replacing Shadab. But if the replacement is like this, then what can we do? Both get dropped towards the end of the tournament. Don’t play Shadab in the next matches, nor Usama Mir, nor Nawaz. Use Iftikhar, Saud, and Agha Salman for 20 overs. They’ll do better. Babar can even try his hand at spin. The T20 team has been selected for ODI. All T20 players. Playing senior players can be fatal. Sarfraz and Malik are there. Both play spin very well.
We have never seen a Pakistani bowling lineup like this. Worst ever. I don’t know what happened, everything was going fine before the World Cup. Fast bowlers are outperforming each other. Neither Shaheen nor Haris are taking wickets. Mohammad Wasim would be a better replacement. If Zaman Khan were here, I would have considered him. At least he brings something different. Imad should have been in the team. I may sound harsh, but I want Shadab and Usama to get injured and be replaced with Imad and Nauman Ali.
