CHENNAI: Pakistan have a mountain to climb when they take on South Africa in the World Cup match at the MA Chidambaram here on Friday. The way South Africa is playing, Pakistan will have to step up big time to get back to winning ways.
Already daggers are out as many former Pakistan cricketers are gunning for Babar Azam’s blood for the 1992 World Cup champions side’s loss to Afghanistan. Most former Pakistan greats are in unison that Azam has not been able to lead the team by example and have singled out the star batter for his failure to make a turnaround in his side’s fortunes after the colossal loss to India.
“Pakistan have a lot of problems to deal with. Babar Azam needs to improve a lot tactically. Hasan Ali was getting the ball to reverse towards the back end of the innings. The equation was run-a-ball at that stage. Pakistan needed wickets, and Hasan Ali looked very close to getting a dismissal. What was the need to bowl a spinner from the other end?,” questioned former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja in a video on his YouTube channel.
The former Pakistan board chief also recalled his post-match interview with Babar where the latter had admitted that the bowling was not up to the mark against Afghanistan. “It was a massive disaster for Pakistan in this World Cup. Losing to Afghanistan will hurt badly. The disappointment was written on Babar Azam’s face when I interviewed him... Pakistan have never dealt with a surprising defeat like this one before,” Ramiz said.
Pakistan trained at Chepauk on Wednesday. They have another day before the game to introspect and try not to repeat the same mistakes. Fielding and batting are the major areas of concern. Against Afghanistan, Babar’s men were sloppy in fielding, especially at the boundary and also conceded a couple of overthrows.