The Pakistan women’s team collapsed like a house of cards on Monday while chasing a victory and a place in the T20 World Cup semifinals, getting bowled out for just 56 against New Zealand in the penultimate group match of the tournament.
After restricting New Zealand to a manageable 110 for 6, Pakistan first slipped to 28 for 5 and then crashed from 52 for 6 to 56 all out in 11.4 overs in an effort to win quickly to improve their net run rate and secure a semifinal berth.
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However, it’s Australia and New Zealand who reached the semis from Group A, while India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were eliminated from the race.
The win upset former Pakistan players and cricket experts, including ex-batsman Simple Ali.
“It seemed like Pakistan were playing badminton, not cricket,” said the 53-year-old Basit. “Pakistan women’s cricket chairperson is a badminton player. Badminton ki player cricket ki chairperson.”
Tania Mallick, the Head of Women’s Cricket in Pakistan, is a former national badminton champion.
“I haven’t seen such a team. You may lose 10 out of 10 matches, but I haven’t seen a team dropping catches like that,” said Basit about the butter fingers of the Pakistan team.
“Mashallah, 11-12 catches chhorey, easy. Dolly, dolly, dolly!” he said in sarcastic tone in a video on his YouTube channel.
Basit praised Pakistan captain Fatima Sana who had lost her father a few days ago and went on to contribute the most runs (21) in her team’s embarrassing collapse.
Basit criticised the team’s shot-selection and the drastic changes in the batting order in an effort to score quickly to win at the earliest.
“Who got out on a good ball? Muneeba (Ali) played a cross-batted shot. They were getting run-out, playing bad shots. Sana Fatima lost her father recently; she played the best knock,” he said.
Extending his sarcasm to Pakistan men’s defeat in the first Test against England despite scoring more than 500 in their first innings, Basit said that defeat possibly shook the women’s team also.
“I think the way Pakistan lost the first Test, it shocked the women’s team as well and they too couldn’t play…We know our team is weak, everybody knows that. But to lose like that…56 all out in 11.4 overs. It hurt me, personally,” he said.
“The way they changed the batting order, it was beyond me to comprehend.”
