After the shameful exit of Pakistan from the T20 World Cup Danish Kaneria expressed how star players of Pakistan Babar and Rizwan only shine against the weaker teams while failing miserably against strong opponents. The Men in Green had a pretty pathetic showdown in the tournament, losing against newbie USA and arch rival India. The damage was already so severe that win against Canada and Ireland couldn’t save Pakistan from elimination before reaching the Super 8s.
What Danish Kaneria Said
Kaneria questioned the team lineup and extreme dependency on the Babar- Rizwan combo while speaking to SportsNow.
He said,
“You select the useless team and repeatedly depend on Babar-Rizwan, Babar-Rizwan, what is this? Till when we will tolerate these names. Whenever any major tournaments come, they fail to create that impact. They only score runs against teams like Zimbabwe and Ireland and they start comparing Babar Azam with Virat Kohli.”
Kaneria spoke in behalf of the new coach saying he would need more time to settle things right in the squad.
“You decided to bring in a new coach, Gary Kirsten, who helped India win the World Cup and cannot do wonders in just a few months. He’s not a magician. In Pakistan cricket, politics is everything. Gary will need a lot of time to understand the politics and accordingly he’ll start working.”
He also expressed rage for strong, consistent domestic players not getting enough chances in the national team.
He commented,
“It is a shameful thing in the history of Pakistan cricket. Apart from cricket, these people have doomed every other sport. There are tons of players making headlines with their performances but are not getting a chance to play for the national team.”
While commenting on Pakistan’s preparation for this tournament he added,
“You are going to play the World Cup in USA, we have never played cricket here and it requires a lot of time to get used to the conditions. Knowing all Of that, Pakistan went on to play England and Ireland where conditions are different to USA. Still, you have the guts to refuse to play in warm-up games in the United States.”
Pakistan got away narrowly against Ireland in the last match. The were among the few teams that declined any warm-up matches.
Also Read: ICC T20 World Cup 2024: Pakistan(PAK) and Ireland await a damp finish in Florida in T20 2024.