“It’s not like we have Lionel Messi on bench”: Ramiz Raja criticizes Pakistan’s batting unit
The Pakistan cricket team has received a lot of criticism recently, particularly in light of how they lost to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2022 final. While the openers, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, have been consistently effective, the middle order appears to be in a precarious position.
Shoaib Malik was reportedly considered for re-entry into the squad for the previous T20 World Cup. Ramiz Raja, the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), had quite unusual perspective on the subject when he was questioned about it.
Pakistan hasn’t played their best until the T20 World Cup 2022. Pakistan was defeated at home by England in a 7-match T20I series, 3-4, after failing to win the Asia Cup. In contrast, Babar Azam’s team appears to be making improvements in the tri-series against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
Pakistan won both of their series’ first games against Bangladesh and New Zealand. However, there are still uncertainties over the team’s middle order. Ramiz Raja was questioned by Geo News about the state of affairs at the moment and Pakistan’s plans to deal with them.
It’s not like Pakistan has Lionel Messi on the bench and a “raddi” guy is playing, Raja added, in a pretty cynical perspective on the situation.
“It’s not like we have Lionel Messi on bench”: Ramiz Raja criticizes Pakistan’s batting unit
“We did it in the last T20 World Cup (selecting Shoaib Malik). I don’t have any problem doing it again. My philosophy is simple, you should have consistency in selection. You need a strong captain as well. We don’t have Lionel Messi sitting on our bench and it is not like we have selected really bad players. We have limited options,” Ramiz said on the Pakistani channel.
“To increase options and talent pool, we are working on our junior leagues, at this point in time, it’s a bit of hit and miss but my philosophy is to make the captain strong. You should give him the options on which players to give chance to,” he added.
Pakistan has a number of lesser-experienced players like Shan Masood, Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, etc. in the middle order. Pakistan fans would hope to have these players ready in time and start delivering at the T20 World Cup which is only a few days away from its commencement.
Activity during the innings break! The enthusiasm to learn and energy of the kids is a sight to behold. pic.twitter.com/2R4Ip41QUN
— Ramiz Raja (@iramizraja) October 9, 2022
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