Pakistan's exit from T20 Worldcup

Former Pakistani cricketers wants the nation to stay united after Pakistan’s defeat in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup saying it was one bad day, so better luck next time.

Former Pakistan Skipper Wasim Akram offered consolation to pacer Hasan Ali whose mistake in the field allowed Matthew Wade to secure Australia’s thrilling victory in the Twenty20 World Cup semi-final on Thursday.

Having conceded 44 runs in four wicket-less overs, Hasan had unlucky more regret to face in the last overs of the thrilling game at the Dubai International Stadium.

Needing 22 runs off the second last over, Matthew Wade’s hit at Shaheen Afridi’s third ball sent a skier towards Hasan Ali who dropped the catch. Wade responded by hitting three sixes in a row to complete an excellent chase against the tournament’s form side.

“What we don’t want is that the whole country gets after poor Hasan Ali now. I have been through this, Waqar Younis has been through it. In other countries, it’s just a game for people. Next day, you say well tried, bad luck, better luck next time, and move on,” said Akram on A Sports as quoted by cricketpakistan.com.pk.

“This situation is as tough for the players as it is for the fans. The players will go to their rooms, they’ll be quiet, they won’t talk to their families and the defeat will haunt them. As a nation, we don’t want to add fire to that fuel,” he said.

While congratulating Australian and New Zealand teams for moving in the final of the T20 World Cup, former skipper Shahid Afridi said 70 to 75 percent matches were won on fielding basis and Australia also dropped Pakistan’s catches when it scored a total of 176 runs on the scoreboard.

“The situation completely changed after Wade’s catch was dropped as three sixes were hit after that. Pakistan will win the match the day their fielding will be good,” he said in a programme on a private news channel.

The flamboyant all-rounder was of the view that Pakistan missed a very good opportunity by losing in the tournament.

“The Pakistan team included five to six players who were playing the first time in a big tournament. This (semifinal) was the final for me as I believe we may have beaten New Zealand in the tournament’s final,” he said and added that the dropped catch of Hasan Ali would be highlighted on the social media showing that he dropped the World Cup.

Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar said the brand of cricket we play was different from the whole world. “Others play T20 cricket with a 150 strike rate, their lower order plays with a 175 strike rate and openers play with 150+ strike rate.

Obviously it really hurts as the brand of cricket we play is off the late 90s and the world plays 20 years further cricket than us.” However, the Rawalpindi Express said this team gave us hope and reached this far to the semifinals as a whole nation and it was just one bad day which I was not expecting. “I request, but we have to stay united as a nation as we cannot be a bad loser,” he said.

Former Skipper Inzamam ul Haq said we should have scored more runs in the first six overs even if we had lost early wickets. “Pakistan thought that our wickets should not fall till 10 overs. You have to score runs depending on the pitches behavior,” he said and added that we cannot score big if we were scared of losing wickets in a T20 game.

Former spinner Mushtaq Ahmed said we enjoyed watching Pakistan play and we were playing a very good brand of cricket. “Being a stakeholder of the game, we are proud of our team and they will keep giving us happiness and enjoyment,” he said.