End of T20 World Cup 2024 and it has been the end of the tournament for Pakistan in vain. As has been seen from the conduct of the vast majority of fans as well as the stump mic comments from former cricketers, the team’s early elimination has been met with frustration and letdowns. Pakistan’s former wicketkeeper Rashid Latif has criticized the facility after their loss, vehemently stating that not even Virat Kohli, a current world-class batsman, would be able to make runs on that kind of wicket.
Conditions not suitable for Cricket
It hurts to bat in my own country even a players like Virat Kohli is not able to score runs,” Latif said in an interview. Going into the 20/20, these comments were made after Pakistan’s batting side had a down time experiencing tremendous hardship throughout the tournament, only to make 275 total runs with only 2 half-centuries in the seven matches played. This led to the failure of the team to proceed to the next phase, couped with immaturity and inability to manage conditions that prevailed in the competition.
“You can’t blame the Pakistan players for everything. They fought well but their efforts were neutered by the pitch conditions. They should have won both the US and India games but the conditions were beyond their control. It can happen, runs have been difficult to come. See, even a batsman like Virat Kohli is not getting runs.”
Selection Policy Under Scanner
Latif also voiced his concern on their selection policy, observed that the team selection committee must start exerting itself in the selection of rolling players as per the condition of the pitch. They could not learn what went wrong about their batting approach and also they cannot keep on repeating same mistakes in every both say we have to find out what we did wrong and get practicing on it. According to the former cricketer, the team must keep on its selection criteria where it has to make sure it taps on players who have a good record in fragile pitches.
Rebuilding Efforts Needed
Pakistan’s premature elimination from the tournament has prompted our questions on how well prepared and how well the team planned. The performance of the team has been an issue of worry for the fans and the ex – cricketers due to poor performance compared to other top teams in the tournament. Pakistan’s next limited-overs assignment is the T20 World Cup that will take place in Australia next year, and the team needs to recharge its batteries if it has to go further in the tournament.