Ahmed Shehzad, the Pakistan cricketer, currently out of favour at the international level, has claimed that the rumoured statement from the head coach Gary Kirsten to his players is true. Notably, in the aftermath of Pakistan's exit from T20 World Cup 2024, the 56-year-old allegedly said there is no unity in the team.
For the unversed, Pakistan got eliminated from the group stage of the T20 World Cup 2024 after suffering a shock defeat at the hands of the USA at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas in the super over. After the end of the tournament for the Men in Green, Gary Kirsten reportedly addressed them, talking about the lack of unity and support for each other in the team.
A Pakistani journalist posted Gary Kirsten's “shocking statement” to the players on his official X account, which read, “There’s no unity in Pakistan’s team. They call it a team, but it isn’t a team. They aren’t supporting each other; everyone is separated, left and right. I’ve worked with many teams, but I’ve never seen such a situation”.
On the GEO News show “Haarna Mana Hay,” Ahmed Shehzad claimed that the rumoured statement from the Pakistan head coach, Gary Kirsten, wherein he dressed down his players, is true. He said, “Hamari kuch players se bhi baat hui hai. Unhone confirm kiya hai ki final meeting hui hai unme unhone iss tarah ki baat ki hai. Toh ye toh like obvious hai. (I have talked to a few (Pakistan) players. They confirmed that he (Gary Kirsten) talked like that during the final meeting. So, this is like quite obvious).”
Here is the clip of Ahmed Shehzad claiming that Gary Kirsten's statement is true:
Moreover, Ahmed Shehzad has been a big critic of his teammate and the Pakistan captain, Babar Azam, recently, talking about how he doesn’t quite cut it in the shortest format of the game. The 32-year-old hasn’t played for Pakistan in international cricket since 2019.