Pak greats slam team over Bangla defeat

Karachi, April 20

Pakistani greats today slammed the team’s first ever series loss to Bangladesh, with former captain Javed Miandad terming it the “lowest point” in their cricketing history. Bangladesh thumped Pakistan by seven wickets in the second One-day international in Dhaka on Sunday for their fourth series win over a full-member nation after victories against Zimbabwe, West Indies and New Zealand.

“Losing to Bangladesh is the lowest point but if we do not take big measures our cricket will decline further,” said Miandad. “Bangladesh aren’t the same team anymore; they can now upset any team because they are getting better and better with each day,” he said.

Pakistan’s wicketkeeping great Wasim Bari deplored a lack of planning ahead of the series. “There is no strategy in the Pakistan team, no planning... that’s why they were exposed,” he said.

“Bangladesh have kept their World Cup momentum very well while we have gone down.”

Another former skipper Rashid Latif feared more such results in the future. “We have played around 90 players in the last five years and yet we’ve never allowed batsmen to settle down on one position. We had 19 different opening pairs and there were a lot of changes in the bowling pairs as well,” he added.

We’re proud of what we’ve achieved: Mortaza

Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said his team believed they were favourites to win the One-Day-International (ODI) series against Pakistan.

“When we returned home from the World Cup, there were moments when I felt whether we were being given too much importance,” Mortaza said. “Continuing on our World Cup performance was on my mind, so the subsequent series was always going to be important. I think the boys should be proud of what they have achieved, but they don’t need to make it too apparent,” the all-rounder said. — Agencies