Gary Kirsten, head coach of the Pakistan cricket team© X (formerly Twitter)
In a scathing criticism of Pakistan’s struggling cricket team, head coach Gary Kirsten described the team as “not cohesive” and said he had “never seen anything like it” in his long coaching career. Kirsten’s criticism came after Pakistan was eliminated from the group stage of the T20 World Cup, currently being held in the United States and the West Indies. Coming into the tournament as runners-up in the previous tournament, Pakistan’s team had their worst performance in recent years, finishing with a win against Ireland before suffering a shock defeat to newcomers the United States and then losing to traditional rivals India.
According to Pakistani media reports, Kirsten, who led India to ODI World Cup victory in 2011, gave a candid assessment of the team following their loss in the ongoing T20 final.
“There is no unity in the Pakistan team. They call it a team but they are not a team. They do not support each other. Everyone is divided left and right. I have worked in many teams and I have never seen anything like this,” Kirsten said in the report, quoting a senior journalist.
Citing sources, Geosuper.tv 4 quoted Kirsten as expressing dissatisfaction with the players’ fitness levels, and the former South African opener said the team’s skill level was far behind that of the rest of the world.
After Pakistan’s loss to India, Kirsten attributed the team’s defeat to poor judgement.
“It was a disappointing loss for sure,” Kirsten said.
“We knew getting 120 was not going to be an easy target. If India could only get 120, it was obviously not going to be an easy target. But I think the game was going at 72 for two with six or seven overs left. It’s disappointing that we couldn’t score from the situation we were in. ” Pakistan defeated Ireland by three wickets in the final match of the T20 World Cup at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida on Sunday.
Pakistan lost to the United States and then to India, resulting in their elimination from the tournament before the end of the group stage matches.
With the win against Ireland, Pakistan finished third in Group A with two wins from four matches.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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