Shoaib Akhtar Tears Apart PAK Team After Afghanistan Loss, Says 'Afghanistan Are Teaching Pakistan How To Play Cricket'

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has come down heavily on Babar Azam-led side after a shocking eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in the ICC World Cup 2023 on Monday. Afghanistan outclassed Pakistan in every department of the game to grab their first-ever ODI win against neighbouring country in Chennai.

In a 273-run fighting chase, Afghanistan's top four dominated with the bat to clinch two points from the encounter. Ibrahim Zadran top-scored with a knock of 87 while Rahmat Shah and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi remained unbeaten on 77* and 48* respectively. Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz also played a knock of 65 runs to contribute to the team's win.

Akhtar questioned Babar's credibility as Pakistan's captain and drew a contrasting parallel with the 1992 World Cup-winning team after their horrific performance.

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“Does Babar has the courage, does he has the stamina? does he has the ability? Can he act like 1992 Imran Khan? Can Shaheen become Wasim Akram? Can Haris Rauf become Aquib Javed, Can Shadab become Mushtaq Ahmed? Can this team do this? I believe in this team but do they? God knows,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.

Pakistan have suffered three consecutive defeats against India, Australia and Afghanistan in the tournament and have only four games to qualify for the semi-final.

“I have played for Pakistan, my heart bleeds. I will keep supporting Pakistan. If I had been with Babar now I would have told him step up as captain. This is the worst, which has happened. Now we are playing four teams and let win them all," the veteran pacer said.

Akhtar further advised Babar to uplift his batting strike and bring Fakhar Zaman back into the playing 11 due to his attacking abilities.

ALSO READ: Babar Azam Acknowledges Failures Against Afghanistan, Says 'We Are Hurt As Team'

“If he is watching my videos, okay the system is messed up .. leave it. Play right people. Bring Fakhar back, give him the license to attack. Bring Zaman, look for other options. Play aggressively. Babar should also bat with the strike rate of 120. Pakistan is batting with the strike rate of 80 and 90. Gurbaz was playing at 122. Pakistan plays 150 dot balls in every match. We are scare," he said.

“You can’t say much after watching this performance. Please put right man for the right place for god sake. Anyone is becoming chairman, for how long we will keep supporting mediocrity. You will keep putting the average people at the helm, you will keep receiving such average performances,” Akhtar added.

The 'Rawalpindi Express' congratulated Afghanistan for their historic performance and lauded Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz for showing their experience.

“Many congratulations of Afghanistan. They are like our brothers. We have lost to our brother, which is fine. I am very happy for Zadran, Gurbaz … finally they have shown maturity, which was required. They gave themselves time in the middle. Hats off to their management .. Ajay Jadeja and Jonathan Trott, who taught them well," Akhtar said.

“For the past fifty years, look at Afghanistan. They don’t have infrastructure, there is no first-class cricket. They have been through worse in the past couple of years and after going through everything, they have proven themselves and defeated Pakistan by eight wickets. They are teaching Pakistan how to play cricket. Well done Afghanistan!," he added.