NEW DELHI: Former India opening batsman Virender Sehwag has suggested that Pakistan needs to find a batsman who can bat at a high rate to remain competitive in T20 cricket.
Babar Azam’s Pakistan team was eliminated in the group stage of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup. They lost two crucial matches at the start of the campaign but managed to win the two matches that followed. Nevertheless, they finished third in Group A with four points, behind India and co-hosts USA.
T20 World Cup Schedule | Points Table | Statistics
Sehwag stressed that Pakistan needed to develop more attacking batsmen if they were to compete at this level in future, noting that many of Pakistan’s batsmen tend to close out the innings, similar to the play of Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan.
“Now Babar Azam and the rest of the team have to rethink their future direction in the T20 format. This team may not be able to win matches against strong teams even if they take good wickets,” Sehwag was quoted as saying by CricBuzz.
“If you want to play in the next T20 World Cup, you definitely have to play differently than Babar Azam did. There are a few players who play at the same strike rate but that is not good enough for T20. You have to find players who have a good strike rate, whether from the PSL or domestic cricket. And you have to give those players a chance. Babar did not become the player he is today on day one and it took him time to perform consistently. So you have to give someone enough time,” Sehwag explained.
Sehwag also expressed disappointment in Pakistan’s narrow win over Ireland in their final group match.
“I didn’t expect them (Ireland) to reach 106 and I didn’t expect Pakistan to chase it down in 19 overs,” former India batsman Sehwag said.
“I don’t understand what Pakistan did here. Yes they won, but firstly they went from 32/6 to chasing down 106 and then it wasn’t because it was a very difficult wicket or because Ireland’s bowling was so good that they had to play cautiously when chasing.”
While admitting that he did not know whether there were any such issues within the Pakistan national team, Sehwag pointed out that internal issues within the team could lead to poor performance.
“That’s why they’re called unpredictable. You never know if they’re going to play well or badly. In this World Cup, they often played badly. You don’t know what their dressing room is like. Are the relationships between the players good or not? That also plays a role.”
“If some players are not happy with the captain, if there are a couple of groups in the dressing room, that also affects it but I say you have to keep all that aside and think about Pakistan. This match should not have gone on for this long. But oh well, at least they won,” Sehwag added.
Sehwag’s comments highlight the need for Pakistan to rethink their strategy in T20 cricket, as he has called for identifying and nurturing talented players who can play attackingly to improve the team’s chances of winning in future tournaments.
Babar Azam’s Pakistan team was eliminated in the group stage of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup. They lost two crucial matches at the start of the campaign but managed to win the two matches that followed. Nevertheless, they finished third in Group A with four points, behind India and co-hosts USA.
T20 World Cup Schedule | Points Table | Statistics
Sehwag stressed that Pakistan needed to develop more attacking batsmen if they were to compete at this level in future, noting that many of Pakistan’s batsmen tend to close out the innings, similar to the play of Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan.
“Now Babar Azam and the rest of the team have to rethink their future direction in the T20 format. This team may not be able to win matches against strong teams even if they take good wickets,” Sehwag was quoted as saying by CricBuzz.
“If you want to play in the next T20 World Cup, you definitely have to play differently than Babar Azam did. There are a few players who play at the same strike rate but that is not good enough for T20. You have to find players who have a good strike rate, whether from the PSL or domestic cricket. And you have to give those players a chance. Babar did not become the player he is today on day one and it took him time to perform consistently. So you have to give someone enough time,” Sehwag explained.
Sehwag also expressed disappointment in Pakistan’s narrow win over Ireland in their final group match.
“I didn’t expect them (Ireland) to reach 106 and I didn’t expect Pakistan to chase it down in 19 overs,” former India batsman Sehwag said.
“I don’t understand what Pakistan did here. Yes they won, but firstly they went from 32/6 to chasing down 106 and then it wasn’t because it was a very difficult wicket or because Ireland’s bowling was so good that they had to play cautiously when chasing.”
While admitting that he did not know whether there were any such issues within the Pakistan national team, Sehwag pointed out that internal issues within the team could lead to poor performance.
“That’s why they’re called unpredictable. You never know if they’re going to play well or badly. In this World Cup, they often played badly. You don’t know what their dressing room is like. Are the relationships between the players good or not? That also plays a role.”
“If some players are not happy with the captain, if there are a couple of groups in the dressing room, that also affects it but I say you have to keep all that aside and think about Pakistan. This match should not have gone on for this long. But oh well, at least they won,” Sehwag added.
Sehwag’s comments highlight the need for Pakistan to rethink their strategy in T20 cricket, as he has called for identifying and nurturing talented players who can play attackingly to improve the team’s chances of winning in future tournaments.
