Legendary India cricketer Sourav Ganguly didn’t mince his words when criticising the Pakistan cricket team for its recent downfall across formats. Pakistan cricket has been facing scrutiny from all corners after their Test series loss to Bangladesh at home. It’s not a sudden downfall, as Pakistan have not performed well across formats for over a year.
It started with the ODI World Cup in India last year, where Babar Azam and Co. underperformed and lost to Afghanistan in the league stage and then failed to qualify for the semifinals. The PCB made some changes in the leadership group, but a few months later, a change in guard at the board once again reinstated Babar as captain in white-ball format. They had another forgettable tournament early this year – the T20 World Cup, where Babar’s men lost to a non-Test playing nation, USA, and failed to qualify for the Super 8 stage. After the embarrassing campaign in the West Indies, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi asserted that the Pakistan team requires major surgery, which everybody is waiting for.
The final nail in the coffin was the Test series loss to Bangladesh at home.
Ganguly feels there is a “genuine dearth of talent” in the country and they are far from the glory days when players like Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, formed the backbone of the team.
“I see a genuine dearth of talent in the country. Every time we think of Pakistan, we remember Miandad, Wasim, Waqar, Saeed Anwar, Mohammad Yousuf, and Younis Khan.
“That’s the memory of Pakistan for us, but that doesn’t win matches in the modern generation of cricket. Every generation has to produce outstanding players to win, and when I look at Pakistan in world cricket — I saw them in the West Indies World Cup, in India during the World Cup, and now after the Bangladesh series loss — there is a dearth of talent in that country,” Ganguly told PTI.
Pakistan lack great players in current squad: Sourav Ganguly
The former India captain further said that the PCB must find a solution to finding quality players who can win matches for them.
“The people connected with the sport in Pakistan will have to look into it. I’m not saying this with disrespect. Pakistan of the old had some great cricketers, which I don’t see in this squad,” Ganguly said.
