Former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria slammed Wasim Akram and other ex-Pakistan cricketers who criticised the current Pakistan team. Kaneria said that instead of criticising from the outside, Akram and other cricketers should instead come and help the side. Pakistan were knocked out of the 2024 T20 World Cup at the group stage, after losses to India and the USA. Kaneria’s reaction comes after Wasim Akram had put out a public rant on social media, demanding a new team be formed for Pakistan.

“Wasim Akram and other people can only preach from the outside. Why don’t they come help the Pakistan side?” asked Kaneria. “Why did Wasim Akram not pose the question about Mohammad Amir‘s selection immediately?” Kaneria told Sports Now.

“Shoaib Malik is a better player than these guys (the current squad),” he added.

The former leg-spinner said that Pakistan’s preparations leading up to the 2024 T20 World Cup had not been up to the mark. He raised special concern over the selections of Mohammad Amir and Azam Khan.

“They (Pakistan) should’ve picked 20-22 players in the camp, and then picked the best 15,” said Kaneria. “Where were Mohammad Amir and Azam Khan six months ago?” blasted Kaneria.

Kaneria slammed the Pakistan team’s management of not being able to make firm decisions.

“They will wake up in the morning and say one thing, and then take a U-turn in the evening. They’re the masters of the U-turn,” said Kaneria.

“They’re egoistic and think they cannot make mistakes,” he added.

Kaneria also criticised the decision to hand back captaincy to Babar Azam, and suggested that he should bat at no. 3 in T20Is, letting Fakhar Zaman open the innings with Mohammad Rizwan.

Babar Azam scored 122 runs in four matches at the 2024 T20 World Cup, but at a strike rate of just 101.

Pakistan’s T20 World Cup is over even before the group stage matches of the marquee event is over. Two losses to India and USA ensured that the Babar Azam-led Pakistan exit from the group stages of the T20 World Cup 2024. Pakistan entered the T20 World Cup as runner-up of the 2022 edition but are exiting the current edition after one of the worst ever shows. Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria opened up on the impact of the exit in Pakistan cricket. “It’s a shameful thing in the history of Pakistan cricket. You know it already; apart from cricket, these people have doomed every other sport. If you play with players’ careers, then you have to face the repercussions”, Kaneria told Sports Now.

“There are tons of players who have been making headlines with their performances but are not getting a chance to play for the national team. Players like Ahmed Jamal, and Shahnawaz Dahani who performed well are not getting opportunities. Muhammad Hasnain who was bowling well has been disappeared by these people. Batters like Kamran Ghulam, and Sahibzada Farhan have been constantly scoring loads of runs in the domestic circuit, where are these guys?” he added.

Kaneria also spoke about the appointment of Gary Kirsten, coach of India’s 2011 World Cup-winning team,  as the Pakistan cricket team coach.

“Sometimes ago, you decided to bring in a new coach, Gary Kirsten who helped India win the World Cup and cannot do wonders in just a few months. He is not a magician. In Pakistan cricket, politics is everything.

Gary will need a lot of time to understand the politics and accordingly, he will start working,” he said.

“You are going to play the World Cup despite knowing the fact that it’s in the USA, we have never played cricket here, and it requires a lot of time to get used to the conditions. Knowing all of that, Pakistan cricket went on to play England and Ireland where conditions are different in comparison to the USA. Still, you have the guts to refuse to play in warm-up games in the United States. Then you select the useless team and repeatedly depend on Babar-Rizwan, Babar-Rizwan, what is this? Till

when we will tolerate these names. Whenever any major tournaments come, they fail to create that impact. They only score runs against teams like Zimbabwe, and Ireland, and then they start comparing Babar Azam with Virat Kohli.”