West Indies ODI Series: Shoib Akhtar questions national team’s defeat

ISLAMABAD: Former world-famous pacer Shoaib Akhtar said the national team’s defeat in the West Indies One-Day International series was unprecedented, warning that the batting line-up will continue to be exposing whenever they face bowling-friendly conditions.

Earlier, the Mohammad Rizwan-led side suffered a heavy ODI defeat to the West Indies, managing only 92, while chasing the 294-6 target given by the hosts in the series decider.

Akhtar attributed Pakistan’s failures to poor decision-making rather than individual player shortcomings.

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“This is the result of bad policies, not the players’ fault. Your players will always get exposed on seaming tracks. Now this rebuilding process has been given a new name — making a combination.”

The former bowler also questioned the suitability of White-ball head coach Mike Hesson for the 50-over format.

“Mike Hesson is good to coach T20I, but I don’t know what qualities he has for ODIs. In this format, if you don’t play quality players, this is what will happen,” Akhtar said.

“You won’t get a complete 50 overs unless you field established all-rounders, batters, bowlers, and spinners. You can’t just scrape by in this format.”

Biggest Decider defeat

The seasoned player Rizwan could not manage to guide his team to have chased the rivals’ target.

On the final day, none of the Pakistani players managed to score a fifty while chasing 294-6 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Tuesday. Seasoned batter Babar Azam, who fell for a duck and 9 runs in the last two clashes against the West Indies, failed to retain his second spot in the ICC ODI batting rankings. The heavy defeat benefited Indian ODI captain Rohit Sharma, who moved into second place despite not featuring in any recent ODI matches.

ICC ODI team ranking

Pakistan fell one spot to fifth position in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s one-day international (ODI) team rankings, following a series of mixed results.

The new rankings show Pakistan holding as rating of 102 points based on 34 matches played. This marks a dip from their previous position, ceded to Sri Lanka who climbed to fourth with a rating of 103 from 39 matches.