Pakistan cricket team head coach Gary Kirsten© X (formerly Twitter)
Pakistan cricket team had a disappointing outing in T20 World Cup 2024 as the Babar Azam-led crashed out in the group stages of the competition with losses against United States and India. Pakistan slumped to a shock defeat against United States before losing to India in a thriller. While they did win their games against Canada and Ireland, it was not enough. Pakistan cricketers’ dismal run led to criticism from both fans as well as experts and according to media reports, even head coach Gary Kirsten ‘lashed out’ at the players regarding their fitness standards and the lack of unity in the side.
Kirsten spoke to the team after their T20 World Cup 2024 exit and reports claimed that he told the cricketers that their fitness levels were not ‘up to the mark’ with respect to international standards.
“Despite playing so much cricket, no one knows which shot to play and when,” Kirsten further stated.
According to media reports in Pakistan, Kirsten, who guided India to ODI World Cup triumph in 2011, pulled no punches in his assessment of the team after being eliminated from the ongoing T20 showpiece.
“There’s no unity in Pakistan’s team. They call it a team, but it isn’t a team. They aren’t supporting each other; everyone is separated, left and right. I’ve worked with many teams, but I’ve never seen such a situation,” Kirsten said as per reports quoting a senior scribe.
Strong but I think very true from Gary Kirsten .. pic.twitter.com/kb43WfdhJ0
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 17, 2024
Pakistan won their final group stage match against Ireland by three wickets on Sunday. Shaheen Afridi and Imad Wasim took three wickets each to restrict Ireland to just 106. However, in reply, Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals to find themselves in a spot of bother in the run chase.
Babar Azam ended up guiding them to victory with an unbeaten 32.
Topics mentioned in this article
