‘Pakistan cricket on fan’: Shoaib Akhtar’s brutal verdict as ‘nothing’ expected from team

shoaib akhtar and babar azam Pakistan cricket looks set to enter a major rebuilding phase after a disastrous start to the tour of England, with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) making significant changes even before the three-Test series reached its conclusion.England took an unassailable 2-0 lead after recording two emphatic victories. The hosts won the first Test at Headingley by an innings and 103 runs before securing a 194-run triumph at Lord’s. Pakistan’s poor performance since then has prompted a major overhaul of the national set-up.Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul left the coaching set-up while Mike Hesson took over the team and was joined by former Australian seamer Ashley Noffke as an assistant.The PCB also took a major crackdown on the player pool, removing seven players from the squad for the third and final Test. Among those sent back are older names like Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha, with the board seemingly turning its attention to the younger generation.

Shoaib Akhtar explains PCB’s thinking

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has now offered his assessment of the dramatic changes, saying the PCB has actually lost faith in a large part of the existing squad.Speaking on the OutSide EDGE show, Akhtar suggested that the board was no longer just reacting to England’s defeats, but was instead using the tour as an opportunity to accelerate a wider rebuilding process.“The PCB itself has been very disappointed by these people and they don’t expect anything from this Pakistan team. The plan is to remove this team and replace them with younger and newer blood. Players who just want to play for Pakistan. Now they are looking at the future and working towards it in the right way,” Akhtar said.However, the former pacer stressed that Pakistan must be cautious in such a transition. He specifically named Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf as three players whose careers should be protected as the team undergoes major changes.“In this transition, I just want the careers of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf to be saved. These guys have a lot of cricket in them,” he said.

Nothing is expected from the current Pakistan unit

Akhtar also claimed that an interview with a PCB official gave him a revealing insight into the board’s expectations from the current team.According to the former Pakistan pacer, he asked the official what the PCB expected from the side during its England tour. According to him, the answer was blunt.“Nothing. We have expectations from the next generation of players that we are preparing for the big stage,” Akhtar was quoted as saying in an official statement.Akhtar further claimed that the same official had described the state of cricket in Pakistan as “on ventilator” and believed that it could take around two years to revive the national setup.The comments highlight the scale of the challenge facing the PCB, especially after Pakistan were unable to fight hard in either of the first two Tests.

Akhtar questions Pakistan’s lack of fight

The 51-year-old also spoke about what he saw during his visit to the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. Akhtar said he was there during the second Test and noticed that there was considerable infrastructure going on.“After 26 years, the academy is now in the works,” Akhtar said.Despite the upheaval surrounding the senior team, Akhtar indicated that the development should not come as a surprise.Asked if he was shocked by the uproar, he replied: “What kind of shock is it? You didn’t expect that?”He was equally critical when discussing Pakistan’s struggles against England. With two heavy defeats in mind, Akhtar summed up the team’s performances succinctly.“We didn’t have the fight in us,” he said.Pakistan now travel to Edgbaston for the third Test where they will try to prevent England from completing the series 3-0. However, the decisions taken by the PCB even before the end of the series suggest that the problems facing Pakistan cricket are seen as much bigger than the outcome of this England tour.