Shoaib Akhtar Slams PCB For Poor Team Display In New Zealand

Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar came out recently and blamed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for selecting an ‘average’ team to represent the country on international level. The Rawalpindi Express took on to Twitter to question PCB about the I’ll management and selection. Earlier in the day, it was Kane Williamson who punished the Pakistani bowling attack’s sub-par show at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch. The Kiwi skipper went on to score 238 runs, causing psychological dents to the Pakistani dressing room. With a mammoth 659/6 on the board, the home team declared the innings just in the fourth session.

The Story Of The Game Between New Zealand And Pakistan

Apart from Williamson, Henry Nicholls (157 in 291 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (102 in 112 balls) also taunted the Pakistani team with a flurry of runs. The last 60 runs of the New Zealand innings came off mere 4.5 overs, nailing the coffin right for Rizwan and company.

Coming to bat late in the day, Pakistani opener Sham Masood fell for his second duck in two test matches as Kyle Jamieson’s length delivery was able to take off an edge and the ball was caught by Tim Southee in the third slip.

What Made The Former Pakistani Cricketer Unhappy?

Commenting on what was a simple poor day for the visiting team, Shoaib Akhtar wrote,” PCB’s policies, they keep bringing in average players, they keep playing average players, they keep making average teams and will keep doing average work, leading to average results.”

This test, which has gone badly for Pakistan comes after they lost the first one by 101 runs. The only silver lining in their first loss was a few runs coming from Fawad Alam Mohammed Rizwan and Azhar Ali. The Test skipper (Rizwan) was the only Pakistani batsman who has shown consistency but a big score for him is yet to come.

This is not the first time a former Pakistan player has commented on the team’s poor bowling. Only days ago Mohammad Asif had said that the bowlers are unable to bowl long spells and stick to good lines and lengths.

Pointing out at the deficiencies, Akhtar said, “Whenever Pakistan will play Test matches, they will be exposed.”

Cricket News: What Shoaib Akhtar Asked The PCB?

He further called the quality of play, ‘school level cricket‘.

“They are playing school level cricket. And the management has made them school level cricketers. Now the board are thinking of again changing the management. Fine, but when will you change?”

On the other hand it was debutant Daryl Mitchell who displayed gratitude for Williamson. He said, “Probably has not sunk in quite yet, but it’s a special feeling. Grateful to him (Kane) for giving a couple of extra overs to get the hundred. His knock was amazing. He set us up, hopefully we will get the remaining wickets tomorrow. I was relieved more than anything (on the emotions of getting a hundred). Great feeling to do it front of the family. I thought I am not going to get it done, but he gave me a couple of extra overs and KJ (Jamieson) did some great running too to help me get there.”

What Next For The Pakistani Cricket Team; Will They Improve Now?

Pakistan plays South Africa next from the 26th of January in a two Test-match series. The team from Asia will be keen on putting in a better performance in the upcoming series. They have not been playing that well and the recent results speak for themselves.

New Zealand and Kane Williamson really benefitted from the series against Pakistan. They climbed to the top of the Test charts for the first time ever. The Pakistani cricket team will want to work on this and recover after the humiliation that they have suffered in recent times. It will be interesting to see whether they can do that against the Proteas or not.

Both teams will be keen on a win and will want to leave their mark at the start of the New Year. It is going to be a long year ahead with the T20 World Cup to take place this year as well. Let’s wait and watch how things develop now.