New Delhi: Pakistan’s humiliation in its own backyard is just not ending. After their latest record loss against England in Multan, Pakistanis are wondering what is worse — their economy or the cricket team. While Shoaib Akhtar has declared “this team doesn’t know how to handle pressure”, cricket commentator Ramiz Raja wants a psychologist for captain Shan Masood’s players. And perhaps the one most disappointed is former batter Basit Ali who finds Pakistan Cricket Board’s ways unislamic.
“I have never seen such a dire situation before. It is all downhill. The Pakistan cricket team needs a psychologist, a miracle, a dramatic, drastic change in order to survive,” said Raja in his show Ramiz Speaks.
Many questioned his remarks on the team, saying that the former PCB chief could have paid heed to the issues in the team during his tenure.
“Ramiz Raja talking about how ‘pitches’ advertise your cricket and why it’s necessary to make good like he x babar duo didn’t make one worse than these… the duality of a man,” one X user wrote. Another added how it was Raja who had made changes to the Multan pitch—where the Test was being held—during his tenure.
In a post-live session, Akhtar said that while he had already predicted the outcome, the performance of this team has led to the entire country’s morale going down. In his usual sarcastic self, he even likened the players to “fish out of water”, adding that the team has failed to inspire the next generation.
Akhtar questioned the selection of the players and the rampant favouritism in the selection.
“This bunch of players do not have it in them to handle pressure. With teams like England, they have a structure, a natural course where they come up to the top.. hamare yahan daal chane khane wale ko roti mil gayi (players who are not so skilled have suddenly risen to the top),” Akhtar added.
Cricket statistician Mazher Arshad called it “an embarrassing defeat”.
Basit Ali went on a no-holds-barred rant on the “shameless defeat”. And he has found the culprit—unislamic practices. The former cricketer went on to elaborate on the reason behind the team’s horrible performance, saying that it was all because PCB was doing everything that has been forbidden in Islam.
Ali, who faced allegations of match-fixing in his playing days, then quite visually opened his eyes wide to express how the team’s performance made him feel, following which he went on to shut his eyelids and conclude, “It’s better to keep your eyes closed than watch this.”
Performance so bad, even the economy fares better
Meanwhile, hurt fans did what they mostly do–use humour to cope.
“Pakistan broke the record which was older than Pakistan,” one X user wrote, while another said, “Pakistan cricket is just one big social experiment into how much one fanbase can take.”
A Reddit user was lost for words, so they chose to emote through a visual progression of every Pakistani’s decline in mental health after every defeat.
Pakistan diplomat Zafar Hilaly had an insight to make, only to make it worse.
“Pak cricket team’s record/ performance is even worse than that of the Pak team managing the economy. In the former case, we are the worst in the world. In the latter case we are among the 7 countries in the world that are bankrupt,” he wrote.