Former India fast bowler Irfan Pathan said Pakistan’s inability to deal with off-field turmoil reflected in the way they performed in the T20 World Cup 2024, saying it hurt their campaign in the USA. Pakistan suffered a group-stage exit in the men’s T20 World Cup for the first time since 2014. Babar Azam’s men were shocked by the USA and then were beaten by arch-rivals India in their Group A matches.
Irfan Pathan said the likes of Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim ‘talk nonsense’ about captain Babar Azam last year and then were picked to play for Pakistan in the T20 World Cup this year. The T20 World Cup winner said even India have had off-field issues, but managed to deal with them before major tournaments in the past.
Irfan gave the example of Hardik Pandya’s IPL 2024 fiasco and highlighted that the all-rounder has performed seamlessly under captain Rohti Sharma for India at the T20 World Cup.
“The way Indian cricket handles turmoil, whatever little we have. Yes, compared to Pakistan, it’s nothing. Let me give you an example of what happened before the IPL,” Irfan Pathan told Star Sports.
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“Mumbai Indians made Hardik Pandya the captain, replacing Rohit Sharma. That was a professional decision made by the franchise. But the way things went, there were a lot of things going on in terms of negativity and performances of the Mumbai Indians. But when it comes to Team India, Hardik Pandya has been performing well under Rohit Sharma as captain. And Rohit Sharma is using Hardik really well and not letting what has happened recently affect it.
IRFAN’S SCATHING ASSESSMENT
“But, Pakistan. It doesn’t happen. What was happening? Imad Wasim was sitting on the TV and talking nonsense about the captain. Mohammad Amir was talking nonsense on TV and now they are playing together. When those things happen… Shaheen Afridi was captain, now they removed him and they went back to Babar Azam. He said I don’t want to be the vice-captain.” When those things happen, it reflects on the team,” he added.
“Apart from the skill, which is the main issue, how you manage off-the-field dramas. You always have drama, but if you don’t have skill as well, it always leads to disaster, which is what happened for the Pakistan team.”
Notably, Imad and Amir were doing broadcasting roles for national TV channels during the ODI World Cup last year. In fact, Imad was left out of the ODI World Cup squad after which he decided to retire from international cricket.
Both Amir and Imad reversed their decision to retire to play for Pakistan.
In fact, Babar Azam stepped down as captain of the Pakistan team in all three formats after their flop show in the ODI World Cup in India. Shaheen Afridi was made Pakistan’s T20I captain only to be sacked later when there were changes in the board. Shaheen led Pakistan only in one series in New Zealand earlier this year. Babar was reappointed as captain in a call that came as a surprise to many.
Pakistan will end their campaign after their final Group A game against Ireland in Florida on Sunday, June 16.
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