Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja has defended team selection for the T20 World Cup saying the selection committee has very limited options and there is no ‘Lionel Messi sitting in the bench’.
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Responding to the criticism of the team selection followed by the continuous failure of the team’s middle order, Raja in an interview to Geo TV said, “We have experimented with the senior players in the last T20 World Cup. I dont’ have any issue. But my philosophy in cricket is- We need consistency in selection and second we need to strengthen the skipper. Humare bench main koi Lionel Messi nahi baitha huya hain, aur humne ekdum koi raddi player ko le liya ho (We don’t have Lionel Messi sitting in the bench and instead picked a worthless player in the team). We have limited options.”
Pakistan’s middle order has been a major concern for the team management as no other batsman could score big runs in the middle order. From the Asia Cup loss to a 4-3 defeat in the 7-T20I match series against England, only the opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan shouldered the responsibility of scoring runs. With the middle order’s failure, Pakistan’s ‘poor selection’ is under attack. Many veteran cricketers felt Shoaib Malik or probably Mohammad Hafeez should have been in the middle order to strengthen the batting as well bowling, but neither were considered for the T20 World Cup.
However, Raja is hopeful of the team’s better show as he further added, “We need not press the panic button. I believe Pakistan can win the World Cup. Shaheen Afridi is fit. Fakhar Zaman is also getting match practice. Hopefully, things will be better later in the tournament (T20 World Cup).”
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Pakistan will begin their 2022 T20 World Cup campaign against India on October 23 at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
