Waqar Younis taunts Ahmad Shehzad and Umar Akmal
Mar 23, 2016 at 4:49 PM
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis has lashed out against his batsmen after his side lost in an embarrassing fashion against New Zealand at Mohali. After Sharjeel Khan set the platform for Pakistan with his explosive start, the middle order made a complete mess. Ahmad Shehzad and Umar Akmal combined to score 54 runs in 58 deliveries, and that pretty much sucked up the momentum.
“We got the platform that we needed. While one must admit that they bowled really well, our batsmen just couldn’t find the boundaries in the middle. Simply not good enough,” he said. ‘Not good enough’ would become a recurring theme of the press conference where the coach stopped just short of calling out the names of the players he felt were responsible for the defeat. “Two of our so-called youngsters, upcoming cricketers, they both batted for a good chunk of time in the middle where we thought you would take the game away. We were always in the hope. But yeah couldn’t really finish it,” he said, indicating towards Shehzad and Akmal.
Waqar didn’t stop there and went on to further criticize his batsmen. “If I go into detail, there will be a lot of issues. About first-class cricket too. But we will have to start by solving the immediate problems. You have to be able to adjust in T20, you have to be adaptable. Still those who were shouting about not getting to bat in the position they want, this was their perfect opportunity. We were just not good enough. You can cry all you want, you can talk all you want, we are just not good enough. People will have to take a hard look at themselves,” he said.