Wahab Riaz apologises to Pakistan fans

The aftermath of a lopsided encounter against India was bound to be lethal for Pakistan. The Men in Green never looked like matching the strong Indian team at Edgbaston on Sunday as they succumbed to a 124-run defeat to Virat Kohli’s men. Their bowlers, who started well, lost the way in the last 10 overs to allow India to reach 319 for 3 after 48 overs. With a moderate batting line-up, Pakistan were never going to gun down that much in a pressure game.

The changes rung in by Sarfaraz have been widely criticised. He got on Imad Wasim with the new ball much to everyone’s surprise. Barring Amir and rookie leg-spinner Shadab, everyone struggled to keep the flow of runs under check. Amir, unfortunately, had to leave the field owing to cramps and could not complete his quota of overs. After Amir, it was Wahab Riaz’s turn to leave the field. The left-arm pacer twisted his ankle in his follow-through bowling the 46th over. He was later ruled out of the competition.

Worst figures in CT history

Before leaving the field, Wahab recorded the most expensive figures in the history of Champions Trophy. He went wicketless at Edgbaston and conceded a mammoth 87 runs off 8.1 overs. Wahab is one of the senior members of the squad and the team expected better of him. He later took to Twitter to express his disappointment and apologised to fans in an emotional tweet.

Wahab said sorry to the Pakistan Cricket Team fans because his “performance has let them down”. He said that he “tried his best” but it “wasn’t good enough”. He also added that he is equally heartbroken as his fans are.

My performance has let down my nation n team, Im sorry sp to PCT fans. I tried my best but it was not good enough n I'm heart broken as well

— Wahab Riaz (@WahabViki) June 7, 2017

All not lost

Pakistan needs to put this abysmal performance behind them and concentrate on the remainder two group games, both of which are a must-win for them. After playing South Africa on Wednesday, they will travel to Cardiff to take on Sri Lanka at Sophia Gardens on Monday.