Wasim Akram lashes out at Pakistan's 'pathetic performance' against USA

Wasim Akram has slammed Pakistan for their shocking defeat to the United States of America in the 2024 T20 World Cup Group A match on Thursday. A good 12 hours later, Pakistan are struggling to come to terms with what transpired in Dallas. 

Pakistan, led by Babar Azam, suffered arguably their biggest defeat in world cricket, when they went down to the USA by five wickets in the Super Over. After the two teams finished with identical scores of 159, it boiled down to the Super Over, where the home team emerged triumphant.

Akram, who complimented the USA for their efforts for giving the opponents a stiff 19-run target in the Super Over, echoed the sentiments of his fellow Pakistanis and declared that the road to the Super 8 is going to get difficult for Babar and his team. USA are leading Group A with two wins from two matches, while Pakistan face India next, followed by Canada and then Ireland. If Ireland, who recently defeated Pakistan in a T20I last month, can spring another surprise, Pakistan could well be out of the T20 World Cup.

"Pathetic performance. They were playing against USA. I was confident, Pakistani supporters were confident that they will win but credit to USA for the way they played their cricket. The first innings, the second innings when they came out to chase and then of course the Super Over. I mean 19 runs in Super Overs is like getting 36 runs in an over. So well done USA. Pakistan will struggle from here onwards to qualify for the Super 8s because they have to play India and two other good teams too," Akram told Star Sports.

Pakistan have endured some bitter defeats in World Cups, losing to Bangladesh in 1999, Ireland in 2007, Zimbabwe in 2022 T20WC and very recently against Afghanistan last year in India, but this one has got to sting. Pakistan's batting was exposed when they were reduced to 26/3 and no one barring Babar Azam (43) and Shadab Khan (40) could get going. Furthermore, the manner in which USA negated their bowlers was nothing less than a spectacle. Akram felt just the overall zeal was lacking in Pakistan, which more than anything else, let the team down.

"I think turning point of the game… was the way they got early wickets. They had one little partnership between Shadab and Babar and then nobody looked comfortable. The fielding was average, overall cricket was very average by Pakistan. Winning and losing is a part of it, we all know it but till the last ball, show some fight, put some dives. Catches are being dropped, wickets are tough to get. So yeah, it was a bad day for Pakistan I suppose," added the former World Cup winner.

Besides Akram, former Pakistan stars such as Shoaib Akhtar and Kamran Akmal too expressed their disappointment with the result. Akhtar called the loss 'hurtful and disappointing' while Akram reckons the result was an insult for Pakistan cricket.