Karachi: Pakistani greats on Monday slammed the team’s first ever series loss to Bangladesh, with former captain Javed Miandad terming it the “lowest point” in his country’s cricketing history.
Bangladesh thumped Pakistan by seven wickets in the second one-day international in Dhaka on Sunday, their fourth series win over a full-member nation after victories against Zimbabwe, the 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,” batting legend Miandad told AFP.
Miandad, who last year resigned from the post of director general of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) praised Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh is not the same Bangladesh they used to be and I think they can now upset any team because they are getting better and better with each day,” he said.
“I did a little bit of coaching in Bangladesh and told them of some basics, like they were weak on short pitch deliveries, and praise to them that they adhered to the basics and now their game is improving day by day,” he added, referring to his 2002 coaching stint with the Tigers.
Wicketkeeping great Wasim Bari deplored a lack of planning ahead of the series.
“There is no strategy in the Pakistan team, no planning and that is why they were exposed,” Bari told AFP,” the former chairman of selectors added.
“Bangladesh have kept their World Cup momentum very well while we have gone down.”
Bangladesh ousted higher-ranked England to finish as losing quarter-finalists in the World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand in February-March this year.
Another former skipper Rashid Latif feared more such results in the future.
“We have played around 90 players in the last five years and worse still we never allowed batsmen to settle on one position.
“We had 19 different opening pairs and there were a lot of changes in the bowling pairs as well and that’s why our team is not settled,” he added. – AFP
