Credit: Twitter
The ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 in India is approaching its playoff stages with India, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia sitting comfortably in the top four places. On the other hand, Pakistan have lost four of their seven matches, which led the legendary pacer, Shoaib Akhtar, to lash out at the team management, selection, and players.
At the beginning of the quadrennial showpiece, Pakistan were considered one of the favourites to win the CWC 2023. However, a slump in the form of star players like Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, and others made it much more difficult for the 1992 champions to qualify for the knockout phase.
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Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar slammed the selection criteria and went on to call it a "total fraud" while he also mocked players like Mohammad Rizwan. In a recent podcast, the Rawalpindi Express was quizzed about Pakistan's failure at CWC 2023 and Akhtar said, "Ye hero hai, ye brand hai. Aur brand 75 balls mein 150 run banata hai, 100 balls pe 75 nahi. (this is the hero, this is the brand. And the brand makes 150 runs off 75 balls not 75 runs off 100 balls)."
Akhtar seemingly aimed verbal attack at Inzamam-ul-Haq, who recently resigned as PCB selection committee chairman, and continued, "Humara jo process hai, humara jo selection criteria hai, top se le ke neeche tak, total fraud hai. Chairman ko samjhaya tha iss tarah se karlo, uss tarah se karlo lekin unhone kaha apan super pendu hai, relax kar tenu samajh na. (Our process and selection criteria is a total fraud from the top to bottom. I suggested chairman some ways but he was not well-informed and said 'Relax you don't understand')"
Watch the video here:
Akhtar also talked about Mohammad Rizwan being called a 'daring' player and said, "Wo to maine 2 saal pehle padh li this. Jo vo gloves laane me thak jata hai. (I have read this two years ago. He gets tired of bringing the gloves.)"
Pakistan have now two matches remaining in the group stage against New Zealand and England, however, winning these two matches won't secure them the playoff berth. The Men in Green's qualification also depends on other teams' fixtures as Australia, New Zealand, and Afghanistan are in a better position.
Talking about the CWC 2023, Team India and South Africa are on the verge of semi-finals qualification while teams like Bangladesh and England will look to book the Champions Trophy berth after being placed at the bottom. Seven teams will join hosts Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025 as the World Cup standings will decide those teams.
