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“Pakistan lost against the USA in T20 World Cup because of no unity”: Azhar Ali

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In a recent Podcast with Cricwick, Pakistan former test cricketer Azhar Ali who's now a member of Pakistan selection committee said that "We lost to the USA because of no unity. The USA could never have chased 160 if we bowled properly and were focused".


Do you think that no unity was the only reason we lost against the USA?
 
We were unified until Amir and Imad were brought back. Rizwan the kingmaker and the whole pukhtoon gang was supporting Babar, a Punjabi captain.
 
He is right. I think Imad and amir comeback did more damage to the team then they helped ion reality. Team got divided on their selection IMO...

Pakistan choked at crunch moments. Amir bowled the worst super over in history against a minnow team. Then Rizwan's shot against Bumrah was pathetic, imad's inning was pathetic.
 
Think it was more that it is not a gelled team. Players suddenly brought back. Batsmen being shuffled around the order. Opening combo was changed back just near the start of World Cup. We’d committed to playing Azam, even though he played really badly before World Cup. The changing back in captain also disturbed things.

I think we should have stopped experimentation start of England series. Maybe even before. Go with your main team and combination and stick with it, into the World Cup. Even if it was a sub optimal team, people would know their roles and just focus on that.

You need to know your settled starting xi and their order going into a tournament. Pakistan didn’t.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
They lost because they are already a mediocre T20 side and then they still played a fraud allrounder like Shadab who has been completely useless for some time now.
Click to expand...
Don't you think it's Amir who single handedly lost that match for his team?
 
ads101 said:
Think it was more that it is not a gelled team. Players suddenly brought back. Batsmen being shuffled around the order. Opening combo was changed back just near the start of World Cup. We’d committed to playing Azam, even though he played really badly before World Cup. The changing back in captain also disturbed things.

I think we should have stopped experimentation start of England series. Maybe even before. Go with your main team and combination and stick with it, into the World Cup. Even if it was a sub optimal team, people would know their roles and just focus on that.

You need to know your settled starting xi and their order going into a tournament. Pakistan didn’t.
Click to expand...
The batting completely flopped in that tournament. That was the main problem
 
ads101 said:
Think it was more that it is not a gelled team. Players suddenly brought back. Batsmen being shuffled around the order. Opening combo was changed back just near the start of World Cup. We’d committed to playing Azam, even though he played really badly before World Cup. The changing back in captain also disturbed things.

I think we should have stopped experimentation start of England series. Maybe even before. Go with your main team and combination and stick with it, into the World Cup. Even if it was a sub optimal team, people would know their roles and just focus on that.

You need to know your settled starting xi and their order going into a tournament. Pakistan didn’t.
Click to expand...

I think that's kinda what he meant, just a weird choice of words on his part. It was a case of none of the players complementing each other and their skills not being utilised properly in cohesion. As you said, batting order was not set, captaincy changes meaning there is no consistency in tactics, etc.
 
As per my understanding what Azhar refers to here is the heated argument Kirsten and Babar had when Haris failed to defend the 16 runs in the over.

Kirsten actually sent a message to Babar before the final over to take both long off and long on however Babar refused. Prior to the last ball, Kirsten again sent the message, but Babar (as per rumors) ignored it.

When the team went back to prep for the super over, thats when the heated argument between coach and Babar happened and the resulting over was for all to see. The team got so disrupted by that entire altercation that everything just fell apart in the next 6 deliveries.

Quite unfortuate but given our cricketing history of infighting not very uncommon.
 
Hitman said:
Don't you think it's Amir who single handedly lost that match for his team?
Click to expand...

I think the combination matters more. That score was not good enough . Their lack of depth was exposed.

Aamir may have been poor in that one Super Over but their team has bigger issues
 
Lol trying to shift the blame onto Amir.

By "no unity," he was referring to Shaheen forming his own group after being removed from captaincy, while Babar had his own.

There was also a lack of unity between the players and coach Kirsten, as superstars like Babar didn’t follow Kirsten’s instructions.
On field and off field
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ahmedwaqas92 said:
As per my understanding what Azhar refers to here is the heated argument Kirsten and Babar had when Haris failed to defend the 16 runs in the over.

Kirsten actually sent a message to Babar before the final over to take both long off and long on however Babar refused. Prior to the last ball, Kirsten again sent the message, but Babar (as per rumors) ignored it.

When the team went back to prep for the super over, thats when the heated argument between coach and Babar happened and the resulting over was for all to see. The team got so disrupted by that entire altercation that everything just fell apart in the next 6 deliveries.

Quite unfortuate but given our cricketing history of infighting not very uncommon.
Click to expand...
While commenting on rumors won't be ideal, but Babar has proven himself to be a mediocre captain and someone who thought of himself bigger than the game. Many of his peers have come forward and established this, most notably the chief selector Muhammad Wasim.

Suffice to say, the best player isn't necessarily the best choice for captain.
 
Unity has less of an impact on team performance in cricket as it does on other sports, and it has less of an impact in short form cricket than it does in long form cricket. It is just a simplistic excuse our "analysts" use to fool the Pakistani public that the team has some extraordinary talent but is deliberately underperforming.

In football for example a lack of unity can result in players not tracking back, a forward player only doing his job and not caring to defend, or a player not passing to others. It has an impact on the team performance but the player still fulfils their individual roles.

Cricket is a different game. It is a combination of a team battle and individual performance. A lack of unity should not stop players from executing their individual skills. Are we really to believe Amir bowled the worst super over of all time because the team wasn't united? There are several other examples where players just failed to execute their own game.

We need to stop making these silly excuses and accept the team isn't good enough. They won't be good enough if they are united and hugging each other while cutting cakes either.

Pakistan cricket has fundamental structural problems that need solving.
 
How can you expect unity when you bring back 2 guys that spent the year before criticizing the team and directly calling out players on national television?

I guess a positive from that horror tournament was Amir bowling the worst super over of all time and Imad failing to chase 42 in 42 after both claiming the team needed match winners and not stat padders.
 
No one rised to the occasion and everybody was expecting others to finish the job and in the end they all bottled it. Only Naseem gave his 100 percent performance that day.
 
daytrader said:
We were unified until Amir and Imad were brought back. Rizwan the kingmaker and the whole pukhtoon gang was supporting Babar, a Punjabi captain.
Click to expand...
This statement is factually wrong btw. I would advise you revisit the events before the 2023 World Cup. There was no Amir or Imad there for you guys to pin it on.
 
Rana said:
This statement is factually wrong btw. I would advise you revisit the events before the 2023 World Cup. There was no Amir or Imad there for you guys to pin it on.
Click to expand...

Are you referring to the blunder PCB made by making Shaheen captain? Yes they disillusioned Shaheen and his FIL tried his best to interfere, but don't underestimate the Kingmaker's effect. He supported kaptaana and the whole group followed.
 
Imad and Amir had some agenda , everybody in PCB knows this thanks to Wahab Riaz they came back only to leave again humiliated and ruined their whatever reputation was intact.

Rana said:
Yes, he exposed his inherent bias towards Babar and dislike towards others.
Click to expand...
 
Kianig89 said:
Imad and Amir had some agenda , everybody in PCB knows this thanks to Wahab Riaz they came back only to leave again humiliated and ruined their whatever reputation was intact.
Click to expand...
What was their agenda? To blackmail Babar Azam? You said something along those lines earlier on when I called out

Can you explain what their agenda was and how it is proven through a factual timeline?
 
daytrader said:
Are you referring to the blunder PCB made by making Shaheen captain? Yes they disillusioned Shaheen and his FIL tried his best to interfere, but don't underestimate the Kingmaker's effect. He supported kaptaana and the whole group followed.
Click to expand...
Ah yes,

If a Pakhtoon revolts, it’s because he has been disillusioned.

Why? Pakhtoons can’t think for themselves?
 
daytrader said:
Are you referring to the blunder PCB made by making Shaheen captain? Yes they disillusioned Shaheen and his FIL tried his best to interfere, but don't underestimate the Kingmaker's effect. He supported kaptaana and the whole group followed.
Click to expand...
That's why shaheen purposely underperformed in whole tournament? If I remember right he even dropped catch in the last over when the match was in the bag
 
RizwanT20Champ said:
Pakistan lost that because of loser Aamer who should never have been brought back. Imad Wasim innings vs India is the worst innings by a so-called finisher @Mamoon @Rana @YousafTheBeast
Click to expand...

You’re just upset that Amir couldn’t save Rizwan and Babar from the humiliation they brought on to the country.

We went to a Super over against USA, you seem to have no problem with that.
 
Operation clean-up: Amir, Imad, Iftikhar, Azam may be axed; Wahab's post at risk

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is likely to make significant changes in the team following its poor performance in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 with several players likely to be axed along with the team's senior manager and selection committee member Wahab Riaz, sources told Geo News.

Players including Mohammad Amir, Imad Wasim, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azam Khan, and Usman Khan are likely to face difficulties in maintaining their place in the Green Shirts' squad in the future.

Furthermore, the team's senior manager and selection committee member Riaz's post is also at risk as there is a suggestion regarding changes in the board's selection committee.

The sources say that a group of three players in the Pakistan team were blackmailing the PCB officials at the behest of the players' manager, who represents all three players, and had pressurised the board to secure a significant increase in the remuneration in the players' central contract.

======

For those with short term memory
 
Kianig89 said:
The sources say that a group of three players in the Pakistan team were blackmailing the PCB officials at the behest of the players' manager, who represents all three players, and had pressurised the board to secure a significant increase in the remuneration in the players' central contract.

======

For those with short term memory
Click to expand...
Amir didn't even have a central contract he was only bought back for world cup so who are those three players?
 
Rana said:
It’s because he has been disillusioned to perform for Pakistan
Click to expand...
I was upset at Amir conceding that many runs as he is a bowler i like watching bowl, so to see him bowl poorly did hurt me a bit.

However I am glad that he conceded that many as it exposed the nonsense agenda that people like @daytrader were peddling around that Babar can hit 6 4's in a super over. We had a discussion in which i even claimed that Babar wouldn't be walk out since the guy has zero confidence when it comes to playing lofted strokes.

It also exposed the nonsense agenda of rizwan as a t20 opener.

In every country in the world, atleast one opener would be sent in a t20 super over.

England: Salt and Butler would be sent.

Australia: 100% Travis and Warner would have been sent

Nz: Atleast Finn Allen

India: Rohit and Sky most likely and rohit opens

Etc etc

Pakistan is the only nation exlcuding Associates and maybe Bangladesh although I'm sure liton das would have been sent that, that doesnt send their openers in super overs.

The whole reason an opener bats in t20 is because their your most destructive batters and it's easy to loft from overs 1 to 6.

Backwards thinking. I'm 200% sure if saim was in the 11, the 22 year old kid would have walked out and played the super over.
 
www.bbc.com

محمد عامر اور عماد وسیم کی دوبارہ ریٹائرمنٹ کا اعلان اور ان کے کریئر پر ایک نظر - BBC News اردو

گذشتہ دو روز سے پاکستان کے دو کھلاڑیوں آلراؤنڈر عماد وسیم اور فاسٹ بولر محمد عامر نے بھی انٹرنیشنل کرکٹ سے دوبارہ ریٹائرمنٹ لینے کا اعلان کیا ہے۔
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

Clear mention of Imad's continous TV rants at Babar Azam, vindicated by Azhar Ali that team was not united
 
Kianig89 said:
www.bbc.com

محمد عامر اور عماد وسیم کی دوبارہ ریٹائرمنٹ کا اعلان اور ان کے کریئر پر ایک نظر - BBC News اردو

گذشتہ دو روز سے پاکستان کے دو کھلاڑیوں آلراؤنڈر عماد وسیم اور فاسٹ بولر محمد عامر نے بھی انٹرنیشنل کرکٹ سے دوبارہ ریٹائرمنٹ لینے کا اعلان کیا ہے۔
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

Clear mention of Imad's continous TV rants at Babar Azam, vindicated by Azhar Ali that team was not united
Click to expand...
says nothing what your claiming stop fooling people who can't read Urdu. very poor tactics
 
Kianig89 said:
www.thenews.com.pk

PCB to review players' contracts after T20 debacle

LAHORE: Following the team's poor performance and elimination from the T20 World Cup 2024, the Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to reassess the central contracts of national players, sources told...
www.thenews.com.pk www.thenews.com.pk

3.players blackmailing PCB , imad Amir who was the 3rd one
Click to expand...
its babar shaheen and rizwan these are your 3 players

Imad and Amir didn't have much say in the team as were only their for the world cup
 
Kianig89 said:
www.thenews.com.pk

PCB to review players' contracts after T20 debacle

LAHORE: Following the team's poor performance and elimination from the T20 World Cup 2024, the Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to reassess the central contracts of national players, sources told...
www.thenews.com.pk www.thenews.com.pk

3.players blackmailing PCB , imad Amir who was the 3rd one
Click to expand...


“The sources also said that a group of three players in the Pakistan team were blackmailing PCB officials at the behest of the players' manager, who represents all three of them and had pressurised the board to secure a significant remuneration increase in the players' central contracts.

It is to be noted that the players had pressurised former PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf to secure a three-year central contract last year, which came into effect from July 1, provisioning increased remunerations.”

How is Imad one of those 3 players? You are spreading falsehood are you not? Should we try to work out who the 3 players are? It won’t bode well for you and your agenda here.
 
emranabbas said:
its babar shaheen and rizwan these are your 3 players

Imad and Amir didn't have much say in the team as were only their for the world cup
Click to expand...
It’s a shame Kiani is exposing himself as a seriously toxic individual with a clear agenda. Very unfortunate to see this. He is now doing his best to create a narrative against Shan Masood too. It is these evil people who are destroying Pakistan cricket from within, and then they will quote verses of the Quran and scriptures to absolve themselves.
 
Rana said:
It’s a shame Kiani is exposing himself as a seriously toxic individual with a clear agenda. Very unfortunate to see this. He is now doing his best to create a narrative against Shan Masood too. It is these evil people who are destroying Pakistan cricket from within, and then they will quote verses of the Quran and scriptures to absolve themselves.
Click to expand...
Is @Kianig89 Pukhtoon?
 
The lengths fans go to defend the worst super over of all time and the biggest choke against a minnow in cricket history by Mohammed Amir is astonishing.
 
Kianig89 said:

Wasting precious time to prove clear facts
Click to expand...
“They brought them here out of greed, made deals with such players who have ruined Pakistan's cricket. I was in the domestic circuit, but no one wants to play domestic cricket. It's because they were telling me, 'Hafeez bhai, if any of us gets selected, we will take it. How can it be that players who don't even play Pakistan's domestic cricket got selected?" Hafeez said.”

Check the quality of the English of this article. Did you write this and get it published? @Kianig89
 
DeadlyVenom said:
The lengths fans go to defend the worst super over of all time and the biggest choke against a minnow in cricket history by Mohammed Amir is astonishing.
Click to expand...
You're completely missing the point about going into the super over. I admit it was a poor super over, but why did it even come to that, especially against the USA?


If the team had performed during the actual match, there wouldn’t have been a super over. So, are the players who lost us the match itself not responsible?
 
Nikhil_cric said:
I think the combination matters more. That score was not good enough . Their lack of depth was exposed.

Aamir may have been poor in that one Super Over but their team has bigger issues
Click to expand...
In purely cricketing terms taking all emtion and bias away from it.

Pakistan drew the match against USA ( yes its not great its very poor)


Pakistan lost the super over against USA and Amir is the culprit for the loss.

Yes the team has issues. But those issues don't stop Amir from nailing 6 balls. His legs shook and he crapped it against USA in a pressure moment. The whole world witnessed it.
 
emranabbas said:
You're completely missing the point about going into the super over. I admit it was a poor super over, but why did it even come to that, especially against the USA?


If the team had performed during the actual match, there wouldn’t have been a super over. So, are the players who lost us the match itself not responsible?
Click to expand...

Whats the need to make so many excuses for Amir? What happened before doesn't absolve Amir from criticism.
 
DeadlyVenom said:
In purely cricketing terms taking all emtion and bias away from it.

Pakistan drew the match against USA ( yes its not great its very poor)


Pakistan lost the super over against USA and Amir is the culprit for the loss.

Yes the team has issues. But those issues don't stop Amir from nailing 6 balls. His legs shook and he crapped it against USA in a pressure moment. The whole world witnessed it.
Click to expand...
So if shaheen or rauf bowled the result would be diffrent?
 
emranabbas said:
So if shaheen or rauf bowled the result would be diffrent?
Click to expand...
Dunno if it would be different. It didnt happen. I don't have a time machine to go back and change history. Can only comment on what I seen.

Is this now the latest excuse for Amir's defence team? In a hypothetical scenario Shaheen would have conceeded 18 too?

You guys are spending too much effort defending the worst choke of all time.
 
So many articles, mentioning everything yes all are made up stories may be from Rizwan and Babar , good if that makes you happy
 
DeadlyVenom said:
Dunno if it would be different. It didnt happen. I don't have a time machine to go back and change history. Can only comment on what I seen.

Is this now the latest excuse for Amir's defence team? In a hypothetical scenario Shaheen would have conceeded 18 too?

You guys are spending too much effort defending the worst choke of all time.
Click to expand...
Not at all it’s actually the opposite. People are spending too much time and effort solely blaming Amir, when, in reality, without Amir, the match would have been lost anyway, and there wouldn’t have even been a super over.
 
emranabbas said:
Not at all it’s actually the opposite. People are spending too much time and effort solely blaming Amir, when, in reality, without Amir, the match would have been lost anyway, and there wouldn’t have even been a super over.
Click to expand...
No it's not "in reality" because it didn't happen and you are just speculating what would happen without Amir.

We lost the match with Amir and because of Amir. That's the reality brother. We saw it with our own eyes and don't need to do so many mental gymnastics and invent time machines to try to prove otherwise.
 
Post mortem of USA match lol Isn't it a little late?

11 matches played by pakistan since that debacle. lost 7 of them. 4 won. 2 against Zimbabwe, 1 against ireland, 1 aginst Canada. So the problem still exists. It cannot just be unity ?
 
USA was extremely determined and motivated. They saw an opening and exploited Pak team while both batting and bowling.

However as minnows they almost choked when they saw win in sight.

Pakistan outdid them and gave them the game.

It had nothing to do with any conspiracy.

Basically: USA played better cricket 80% of the game and held their nerve better or choked less in this case.
 
Local.Dada said:
Dhoni was out of duck vs Bangladesh in 2007 WC, should that define his entire legacy?
Click to expand...
Big difference.

Firstly Dhoni was a solid odi player. He was bang average in t20 and test and excluding delusional Indians with fake biopic and false information no one on the planet considers Dhoni a good t20 and test cricketer.

Dhoni has been good in IPL but ipl is an entertainment league, it's whatever.

In odi however he was a good batsmen with many wins and game finishes under his belt which is why he shares the title with Bevan as greatest finisher.

I don't believe he's > Bevan but he is more popular then Bevan due to Indian backing however again it's irrelevant since he's a solid odi player.

Lastly as a captain he maintained icc tournament dominace. He didn't reach the same level of dominance that pointing reached but Dhoni is a close 2nd and dis turn india's fortunes around.

Rizwan isn't even in bootlicking distance of Dhoni. Finishing a t20 world cup with a 90 SR is unforgivable.
 
Anti - Rizwan brigade posters have no integrity at all. If Shaheen bowled the worst super over ever vs USA they would've solely blamed him. Atleast admit Amir lost us that match if you want to be taken seriously.
 
emranabbas said:
It's amir's fault 😎
Click to expand...
Batting looks poor. Here are the batting stats after USA match for Pakistan


Screenshot-2025-01-21-074133.jpg
 
Rana said:
Great fight,

How many dots did he play?
Click to expand...
Total 6’s by Pak in the game- 2

Rizwan 1, next one was by Fakhar (who is my 2nd fav Pak cricketer currently). Fakhar out for “13”

Total score 113, Rizwan 31- that is more than 25% of the score.

Next highest from Pak- 15 by Imad Wasim

Contribution with on-field advice to bowl out India for 120.

Yes that shot against Bumrah was stupid but it is what it is.

Why is Rizwan the main villian here?
 
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