Shoaib Malik's comments draw resentment from former Pakistani cricketers

Cricket experts and former players Ramiz Raja and Shoaib Akhtar have slammed Pakistan cricket team’s acting captain Shoaib Malik, who declared in the post-match press conference that the results against Australia didn’t matter. It was following the home team’s second consecutive defeat in the five-match ODI series that is being played in the United Arab Emirates against a visiting Aussie side. 

The Malik-led Pakistan side lost the 2nd ODI match by a margin of eight wickets in Sharjah on Sunday, March 24. Aaron Finch shone with a match-winning 153 in the match. The captain’s knock not only brought victory for the Aussies but will also help Finch prove his mettle and that he deserves to be a part of the World Cup squad.

Malik’s Pakistan side carried out another lifeless bowling performance and the captain claimed the series was about testing the team’s bench strength ahead of the World Cup this summer. 

“To be honest, I think early strikes in our bowling is what we are lacking,” said Malik in the post-match presentation. “Overall, there are positives as we fought until the last ball. Since we have rested a lot of our players, we are trying other players and these things happen in international cricket, especially when you are playing a big team. It’s not about winning the series, it’s about testing our bench strength.”

Malik’s comments under the question

Malik was put under fire for his comments and former cricketers like Ramiz Raja termed those comments as unbelievable. “I couldn’t believe it, because if we don’t care about the result, then why are we playing the series in the first place. If we don’t tell our youngsters how important their innings of fifty or hundred runs is, if you don’t tell them how it contributes to the success of the team, how will you create new champions,” said Ramiz, as quoted by the Dawn.

The Rawalpindi Express, Shoaib Akhtar– who was working as an analyst for the match at PTV Sports- echoed Raja’s views, and said: “He said wrong things during the presentation ceremony,” Akhtar said. “We should learn that we need to say the right things at the right time as that matters a lot.” The former fast bowler further added that the current performances of the team were “embarassing”, and that the team needs to target scoring bigger while batting.

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