Pakistan’s fate at the 2024 T20 World Cup 2024 might have been sealed after USA vs Ireland was washed out by rain but the blame for an early elimination lies squarely on their shoulders since they played poor cricket in the first round, feels India batting legend Virender Sehwag.
Pakistan began their Group A campaign with a shock defeat to world cup debutant USA with the contest being decided in the Super Over. More misery was in store for the former champions after suffering a six-run defeat to India in a match they looked destined to win.
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Against India, they failed to chase down 120, finishing with 113/7 in 20 overs.
“How can the rain be blamed?” Sehwag said on Pakistan not qualifying for the Super Eight stage. “They played poor cricket. They didn’t deserve to qualify for the Super Eights. Even if they would have somehow managed to qualify, they would have lost there. It wasn’t like they were going to face easy opponents (in the second round).”
“They lost to USA, a team that is playing world cup for the first time. And then you weren’t able to chase 119 against India. They managed just 113. So how can you blame rain?” he added.
Sehwag quipped that ICC might have to revisit their strategy of keeping India and Pakistan in the same group to generate interest.
“ICC will have to rethink about making such groups. In 2007 (ODI World Cup) neither India nor Pakistan qualified for the next round. ICC may rethink if they wish to keep India and Pakistan in the same group (to ensure they aren’t eliminated early),” Sehwag said.
“USA has qualified and it’s possible that matches featuring USA may not evoke same interest as they would have had Pakistan qualified instead. However, USA were the better team and they are capable of producing more upsets,” he added.
Sehwag also felt that it’s time for Pakistan to analyse where they went wrong and if the composition of the team was right.
“Pakistan has to take stock of the team they picked for the world cup. Their team was packed with openers and not one of them was capable of going berserk, score at a strike-rate of 200. Babar and Rizwan don’t score at this rate. They will have to change. This pair has been opening for the past three world cups so were bound to get the same results,” Sehwag said.
Pakistan had appointed Shaheen Afridi as T20I captain following their failure to qualify for the semi-final of the ODI World Cup last year. However, he was replaced as captain right before the T20 World Cup with Babar Azam being reappointed as the skipper.
Sehwag feels that Pakistan has to give a new captain some time to build a team capable of producing positive results.
“You first have to choose a captain and build team accordingly. You need to give him time. It takes time to get results. Babar has been their captain for the longest time and others haven’t gotten the chance to lead Pakistan for much. They have to identify players from PSL for different positions. Choose a captain, give chances to younger players for some time and then they will start performing,” he said.
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