“Our Board Is Average, It Brings Average Players” – Shoaib Akhtar On Pakistan’s 3-0 Series Loss To England

Former Pakitan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Tuesday slammed the Pakistan cricket team and the country’s cricket board for their disappointing performance against second-string England side.

Akhtar’s comments came after Pakistan were hammered 3-0 in an ODI series against second-string England side in the absence of the their first-choice squad.

Babar Azam smashed his highest ODI score of 158 but it ended in vain as England chased down a mammoth total of 332 in just 48 overs in the series finale, thanks to James Vince (102 off 95) and all-rounder Lewis Gregory (77 off 69).

Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar expressed his disappointment with the team and said he was hurt by the lack of fight from Pakistan, especially in the first 2 ODIs.

“Pakistan has lost the series 3-0. It’s not defendable. In the last 3 matches, we didn’t see any fight from the Pakistan team,” Akhtar said while stressing that he is not slamming the authorities to land a job with the senior national team.

“Pakistan cricket is in a serious situation. They are in treacherous waters. It’s a very hopeless situation for PCB and Pakistan. I don’t know what the authorities are thinking but it’s a very hopeless situation. I’m not saying because I need a job but I’m saying this because I’m hurt,” he added.

“I played this game for my country. I ran in and I made sure people get value for their money. Unfortunately, I’m not getting value for money from this team. This is not defendable, this is unexpected,” he said.

The most embarrassing thing about Pakistan’s 3-0 series defeat against England is the fact that England was without their regular players. Only Ben Stokes from their first-choice team was there and rest of the players, which had hammered Sri Lanka 3-0 earlier this month, was put in isolation after some of its members tested Covid-19 positive.

Can’t Expect Extraordinary Things From Average People: Shoaib Akhtar

Akhtar further called Pakistan cricket board as an “average cricket board” and slammed it for preparing “average players”.

“It’s a shameful performance. Our board is average. It brings average people, the management is average so obviously, they are going to form an average team. You can’t expect extraordinary things from average people. It’s wrong for you to expect.”

Babar Azam’s poor form with the bat in the first two ODIs cost them series loss as they failed to rack up good total on board on both the occasions. England, on the other hand which had as many as 5 debutants in the series opener, played fearless cricket and outclassed Pakistan in all the 3 matches.