Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar says that the International Cricket Council (ICC) must be thinking about continuing the Test status of Pak Test team. The comments come after Shan Masood-led team’s humiliating innings loss against England in first Test in Multan despite scoring 550+ runs in the first innings.
“Fans are saying that Pakistan should withdraw from WTC. I saw some comments. ICC must be thinking ‘should we send teams to Pakistan and keep their Test status alive’. It’s just disheartening. This is going to hurt Pakistan cricket, fans and the upcoming talents. I want to request the PCB to sort out this mess,” said Akhtar during a discussion on local news channel PTV Sports.
The pacer also hit out on the steady decline of Pakistan cricket over a decade and said: “You will reap what you sow. Over the decades, I have seen the decline. The situation is disappointing. Losing is fine, but the game should be close. However, what we saw over the past two days, they completely gave up hope. This shows that we aren’t good enough. England scored 800+ and Bangladesh also beat you.”
The loss against England comes on the back of 0-2 series whitewash against Bangladesh, also at home. The last time Pakistan won a Test at home was in year 2021 and has been in decline ever since. Akhtar blamed weak management and captain for the current situation of the Pak cricket.
“If your management and captain are weak, there will be groupism. If the captain is selfish, there will be groupism. Same is the case if the coaches are afraid of the captain. The captain calls the shot when it comes to selection. This has been the culture since my playing days,” the pacer said.
As for the first Test, England declared after scoring more than 800 runs in their first innings after Pakistan were folded for 556. The visitors then went on to win the game by an innings and 47 runs as the home side failed to cope up with the pressure.
