Former Pakistani players on Friday said the country's national cricket squad could not be worse after Australia pushed it out of World T20. James Faulkner took a record five-wicket haul after Steve Smith hit an unbeaten half century as Australia post knocked Pakistan out of the World Twenty20 on Friday. "They have lagged behind so much that they do not stand a chance anymore," former Pakistani skipper Rameez Raja told Geo television.
"They do not have the quality, they do not have any gems. You have to sack six or seven of them and bring in new players and they will take three to four years to perform," Raja said just after the match. Raja said that the entire cricket system had to changed and decisions should be taken for cricket, not individuals. Sikandar Bakht, former paceman and cricket analyst at Geo television called for cancelling contracts of all players and an in depth performance review.
"PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) should cancel the central contracts of all players and hold a detailed review of players performance," Bakht said. "A line has to be drawn now. I feel that even if you send in the under-19 cricket team, they would perform better than them." Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi in his post-match reaction said that he would take a decision about his future next week.
"I will go home and in next 4-5 days will take a decision," Afridi said. Raja said that retirement was a tough decision and Afridi should be given time to ponder over it. "It would be a difficult decision for Afridi, because he has a fan following. He should go home and decided that to call it a day and exit gracefully because he is such a great cricketer and all rounder," Raja said.
Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistan's former test batsman, urged the PCB, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, former cricket greats, media and cricket fans to come together and get Pakistan out of its misery. "Now PCB and the Prime Minister have to think about how they can save the cricket team. It is already too late. We have to fix it and urge the media and the nation to play a role in it," Yousaf said. "We should improve our first class cricket, because only it will produce good players who will be able to give performance," he added.
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