Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has slammed PCB and the team management for their defensive mindset in the recent Test series defeat to Australia. Akhtar came down heavily on the Babar Azam-led Pakistan side before praising the Australian for being brave and skillful to script a historic win.
Notably, Pakistan suffered a 1-0 series defeat after being dismissed for 235 in their second innings of the third and final Test in Lahore and lost the match by 115 runs. The first two Tests of the three-match series were ended in a draw.
“Absolutely disappointing series, this. Absolute nonsense. The mindset of both the Pakistan Cricket Board and probably the team management was to draw this series. Neither should they win, nor us; just end this series in a draw,” said Akhtar on his YouTube channel.
“But hats off to Australians. I’m genuinely happy for them. This is not their home, none of these players played in Pakistan before; they came here and play brave cricket. The bowlers didn’t know when the ball reverses in such conditions, but Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins put in the hard hours to learn the skills of the trade here. Nathan Lyon, who hasn’t toured Pakistan yet, took a five-wicket haul,” he added.
The flat pitches were the greatest cause of concern in the series, and Akhtar also pointed out by saying that such pitches were produced so that matches could result in a draw and ended up hurting the hosts only.
“See, when you are lacking courage and only trying to escape, the results are like this. They came here after 24 years, and they expected you to prepare good wickets. But you didn’t do that. You tried to wear them down. The opposite has happened. It’s the wrong approach, the wrong mindset. We should bring in people who are not mediocre and take the right decisions. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen in Pakistan,” Akhtar added further.
