Legendary Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram shared witty advice to the Pakistan team after their chances of qualifying for the ODI World Cup 2023 seemed to be very bleak following New Zealand’s thumping win over Sri Lanka in Bangalore.
Following New Zealand’s victory, Pakistan’s chances of making it to the 2023 World Cup semifinals have significantly decreased. After nine league-round matches, New Zealand has ten points in their account with a run-rate of +0.743 to advance to the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Pakistan will now need to defeat England by a margin of more than 274 runs or to chase down the target within 2.3 overs, which is almost close to impossible with a lot of calculations coming to the Net run rate.
Speaking on A Sports, Wasim Akram gave a cheeky advice to Babar Azam and the team to bat first against the defending champions England to post a big total and lock the Jos Buttler-led side in the dressing room to get them timed out to win the encounter.
“Mathematically it is still possible, Pakistan should bat first against England and post runs, then lock the England team in the dressing room and get them timed out,” Wasim Akram said.
Even with a narrow victory against England on Saturday, Pakistan would have advanced to the semifinals of the 2023 World Cup if they had won one more game in the league stage. After seeing the league games, Babar Azam and company would believe they could have defeated South Africa in Chennai.
Earlier, it was reported before the game against England, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam alongside coaches Morne Morkel and Grant Bradburn and some other players, decided to play golf in their break.
At about nine in the morning, they arrived at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, a well-known golf destination in Kolkata, and played a leisurely game of golf till two in the afternoon.
Eight members of their team decided to go to the South City Mall in South Kolkata. The players had to change their original plan, though and went to the Mani Square Mall in Salt Lake instead of their intended destination, which was closer to the Pakistani team’s lodging.
Since winning their first World Cup back in 1992, Pakistan has not triumphed in the competition. Since then, they have just once advanced to the final—in 1999—and have not done well in the competition.
