ICC World Cup 2019: Sarfaraz Ahmed responds to Shoaib Akhtar’s criticism of Pakistan team

In their first five matches, Pakistan lost three games against the Windies, Australia and India. All those encounters were one-sided affairs owing to which their Net Run Rate also took a hit. However, it was the drubbing versus the Men in Blue that added fuel to fire as the rivalry between the two countries has been an everlasting one. Sarfaraz Ahmed’s men lost the game in Manchester by 89 runs (DLS Method).

After winning the toss and electing to field, very few things went right for the Men in Green. Barring Mohammad Amir, no other bowler could ruffle the feathers of the belligerent Indian batsmen. Rohit Sharma’s 140 coupled with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli’s fifties propelled them to 336. Pakistan was in with a chance during the run chase when Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman were starting to press the accelerator.

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav picked up both batters and thereafter, it all went downhill for the Pakistan team. After the defeat, Shoaib Akhtar, the former Pakistan fast bowler, slammed Sarfaraz for deciding to field, thereby negating their chance of a victory. He also called Sarfaraz ‘brainless’. The retired speedster hurled the criticism at the Pakistan team on his official YouTube channel.

“I can’t understand how Sarfraz can be so brainless. How could he forget that we don’t chase very well. Knowing our strength, which is bowling, is important. The game was half-won by Pakistan when Sarfaraz won the toss, but he tried hard to lose the match,” Shoaib was earlier quoted as saying.

Not only Shoaib, fans also lashed out the players of the national team for having junk food like pizza and burgers and therefore not focussing on staying fit. Recently, Sarfaraz was body-shamed in a mall in front of his child where a supporter called him ‘fat like a pig’.

Sarfaraz Ahmed responds

In the meantime, a few days after Shoaib’s critique, Sarfaraz has opened up on the matter and the 32-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman wasn’t a pleased man by any stretch of the imagination.

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“If I say something to him, then he’ll start scolding us again. As per him, we aren’t players. I don’t want to tell what we are. If we speak out then we’ll be bashed for retaliating. Some people are sitting on the television, thinking they are God,” a frustrated Sarfaraz said in the press conference.