 "Wasim Akram on Pakistan defeat vs USA")
Pakistani legendary pacer Wasim Akram slammed the Pakistan cricket team after their defeat against USA in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024.
While talking to host broadcasters Star Sports, Akram said it would be tough for Babar Azam's side to progress to the T20 World Cup knockouts after the defeat in the Super Over.
CHECK INDIA VS PAKISTAN LIVE CRICKET SCORE, FULL SCORECARD AND MATCH UPDATES | ICC T20 World Cup 2024
CHECK INDIA VS PAKISTAN LIVE CRICKET SCORE, FULL SCORECARD AND MATCH UPDATES | ICC T20 World Cup 2024
"Pathetic performance. Winning and losing is a part of the game. But you need to fight till the last ball. It was a bad for Pakistan cricket," Akram said.
"Pakistan will struggle from here onwards to qualify for the Super Eight because they have to play India (on June 9) and two more good teams (Ireland and Canada)," he added.
Check ICC T20 World Cup 2024 full schedule, match timings (IST) here
Check ICC T20 World Cup 2024 full schedule, match timings (IST) here
Akram also picked his turning point of the match and said USA took early wickets and the Men In Green never recovered from that.
Pakistan managed only 30 runs for the loss of three wickets at the end of the Powerplay. Though, Babar-Shadab's stand of 72 runs held the sinking ship, power-hitters failed to end the Pakistani innings on a high
"The turning point of the game...the way USA got early wickets. Pakistan had a little partnership between Babar and Shadab and then nobody turned up. The fielding was below average, the overall cricket by Pakistan was average," he said.
More From This Section
Why are Pakistani hopes of Super 8 round qualification difficult?
With Pakistan cricket losing their opening encounter, they now have to win their remaining three fixtures to qualify for the Super 8 round without depending upon the match results of other teams in Group A.
But the main obstacle for Pakistan is USA now have two wins in two games and if they win one of their remaining two fixtures, it will come down to net run rate for the second team.
Pakistan now have to defeat India to keep their Super 8 hopes alive. India faced defeat from Pakistan only once in tournament history.
How Super Over defeat dashed Pakistani hopes?
Akram, a master of death bowling in his playing days, said conceding 18 runs in the Super Over dashed Pakistan's hopes.
"While playing against USA, I was confident, every Pakistan supporter was confident that they will win after the way they played in the first innings.
"In the second innings, they (USA) came out to chase...I mean getting 19 runs in the Super Over is like getting 36 runs in a Super Over. Well done USA," he said.
