Interim head coach and de facto chief selector Aqib Javed said on Wednesday that hosts Pakistan were kicked out of the Champions Trophy tournament “due to a lack of experience among the players”.
A wave of criticism has engulfed the Pakistan cricket team following their six-wicket defeat to India in Dubai, a result that was decisive in Pakistan’s ouster from the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy, an event which they are hosting. Before that, during the opening match against New Zealand in Karachi, the Green Shirts faced a 60-run defeat.
India and New Zealand advanced from the four-team group as both sides won their respective matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Speaking at a pre-match press conference in Rawalpindi before Pakistan’s final match in the Champions Trophy against Bangladesh on Thursday, Javed said, “We lost against them (India) but when there is a lack of experience and the pressure gets to you, it’s difficult for the new guys to tackle that.”
His remarks came when he was asked about the main difference between the Indian and Pakistani teams in ICC events, in particular, and if the second line of players were not able to complement the seniors.
Continuing his reply, he said that a match between India and Pakistan was “more than cricket”, adding that winning such a match required a lot of experience.
“This Indian team was the most experienced, they have almost 1,500 games altogether and Pakistan is on the bottom, with less than 400 games,” he added.
“Babar Azam is the only one that has played more than 100 games, followed by Mohammed Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi, while the rest have played less than 30 games.”
He added that Tayyab Tahir had only played eight matches and Khushdil Shah had only played 15 matches.
Pakistan’s hurting players would be motivated by pride in their dead rubber against Bangladesh on Thursday, Javed said.
“There are no excuses, there shouldn’t be any in life, but I can assure you that the players are more hurt than the fans and want to leave a mark in the last game,” Javed said.
“The players are not satisfied, no one is satisfied after losing, but everyone tries hard to win and by doing so we have recently won a series in Australia and South Africa.”
Pakistan beat Australia 2-1 in November — their first ODI series win there for 22 years — before whitewashing South Africa 3-0 in the build-up to the Champions Trophy.
“This is the Champions Trophy, where the eight best teams are playing, so after two defeats we have to start from zero,” he said.
“Every game is played for pride so we want to leave a mark on Thursday,” he added.
Javed admitted losing to arch-rivals India left fans emotional.
“People are more involved in a Pakistan-India match and they do not accept a defeat against India and that defeat in Dubai has left them more dejected,” he said.
“We managed just 241 in batting and when facing a strong batting line-up you attack in order to get wickets and in the process, you bowl on both sides,” he added.
A fast bowler himself, who played 22 Tests and 163 ODIs for Pakistan, the coach backed his struggling pace trio.
“People blamed two, three players, which is not correct,” he said. “If you assess Shaheen, Naseem and Haris, they are still the best bowlers in the world. “
Questioned about criticism regarding team selection and speculation on social media regarding lack of understanding between the coach and captain, he said: “This was the best possible team,” adding that Saud Shakeel was brought in because “against spin on these pitches he was a better option as he can tackle spin and capacity to play a long innings”.
He asked the reporters what team would they pick if it was reconstituted, adding that “everyone is asking why did this player come into the team? If you look at the numbers then as a selector you have to pick the player who has performed the best.
“There is no such player in this team that has not performed, Saud has performed in test matches, and in South Africa as well. Kamran Ghulam performed well there as well. So this is the bunch [of players] that has performed recently, you will not see a single player who came into the team without performance.”
