Wahab Riaz urges fans to focus on players’ performances, not drag families

Pakistan have now reached their grey zone in World Cup 2019 and another loss to South Africa at Lord’s on Sunday will mark an end to their hunt for the second world title. This is also the first time a game of this World Cup will be played at the iconic venue which will also host the final on July 14. The Men in Green got a week break after their heart-breaking thumping against arch-rivals India on June 16 and are regrouping to make a comeback.

The last one week has been tough for Pakistan cricket and the national players have faced all sorts of allegations. While senior player like Shoaib Malik has been accused of partying late into the night before the India match, conspiracy theories were also doing the rounds that the team has been split by factionalism and captain Sarfaraz Ahmed is not getting the full backing of his players.

On Thursday, Mohammad Hafeez, the oldest player in the squad, rubbished the allegations of factionalism and now, bowler Wahab Riaz has spoken up. He said just like the fans, the players who lost the game versus India were feeling equally disappointed but refrained from supporting the act that the players’ families were also being targeted. Malik’s wife Sania Mirza was trolled on social media after her husband failed to score a run in the match against India. A number of former cricketers from both sides of the Wagah came in support of the ace tennis player.

Players also hurt by loss to India

“None of us like the fact that we lost to India, we feel very strongly at having disappointed people, I’d say we are more hurt and disappointed than people back at home,” the 33-year-old Riaz was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

When asked whether the criticism in the public had affected the team’s morale, Riaz said: “There is demoralisation when they are personal attacks on us in the media. Criticise us, criticise our performances and we will accept it because we want to do perform better.”

He said it was a concern that players’ families were also being dragged into the criticism and urged the fans to not do so and limit the focus on the players’ performances.

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Riaz, who made the Pakistan World Cup squad in the last moment, has picked five wickets in four matches in the tournament so far. He said the players are backing each other well ahead of the SA match. He also said that Pakistan play better under pressure and hoped that they would make it to the semis and also final.