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T20 World Cup: Waqar spots 3 areas Pakistan needs to work on after shock defeat against Zimbabwe

Babar Azam's team are now facing an early exit from the tournament, having suffered their second straight defeat Down Under

Published: Fri 28 Oct 2022, 7:17 AM

Updated: Fri 28 Oct 2022, 8:56 AM

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Legendary Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis asked Pakistan to remain positive following their shock one-run defeat to Zimbabwe in the ICC T20 World Cup in Perth on Thursday.

While they produced a great battle against India in their tournament opener despite the heartbreaking four-wickets defeat in a dramatic last-over thriller, they were listless against the modest Zimbabwe on Thursday.


Having restricted the Africans to 130 for eight, thanks to young fast bowler Mohammad Wasim's outstanding performance (4-0-24-4) with the ball, the experienced Pakistani batting unit fumbled in Perth.

Despite Shan Masood's 44 and Mohammad Nawaz's late fightback with a 22 off 18 balls, Pakistan failed to stop Zimbabwe from securing one of the biggest upset wins in the history of T20 World Cups.

Babar Azam's team are now facing an early exit from the tournament, having suffered their second straight defeat Down Under.

But Waqar highlighted the three areas that Pakistan need to work on to keep their slim semifinal chances alive.

Play fearless cricket

Waqar says the change has to stop from the top and asked the team's openers Babar and Mohammad Rizwan to bat with a more positive approach.

"We are in the middle of a World Cup, so I think we all have to stay positive. And our openers have to come out for aggressively. I am not going to worry about losing a wicket. Our openers need to come out all guns blazing" Waqar said on ASports on Thursday.

Bring Hasnain in place of Shaheen

The former Pakistan captain once again raised questions about Shaheen Shah Afridi (4-0-29-0) who had another average game.

"In the bowling, you have to watch Shaheen very closely. How is he going? He is our asset. But you have lot of cricket ahead of you, not just this World Cup," Waqar said.

"We have (Mohammad) Hasnain in the team. If you really think that Shaheen is not hitting the strides yet, then I will play him (Hasnain). These are the things you need to do."

No fielding lapses, please

Waqar was also hugely disappointed with Pakistan's poor display on the field and demanded an immediate improvement from the team.

"Also Pakistan have to make sure that they start fielding well. They dropped two catches today," he said.

"Today the match went to the last ball because it was Zimbabwe. If we had played like this against a big team, we would have lost very badly!"

The reverse swing master also said the team's shock defeat to Zimbabwe has left the whole country in a state of anguish.

"I think the whole country is angry with the performance and they have the right to be angry. It was heartbreaking to see the kind of cricket Pakistan played against Zimbabwe," he said.

"There was no venom, it was just ordinary cricket. I don't know if they were overconfident or undercooked. I don't know to be very honest. They played an outstanding match against India and it was the complete opposite against Zimbabwe.

"We played terrible cricket. There was no real planning. From the first over, we looked lost. It was very disappointing to see how our openers batted, it was as if we didn't know which way to go."

Pakistan will need to pick up the pieces and win by a big margin against the Netherlands in their third match of the tournament on Sunday.

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