Many players playing for a long time for Pakistan have set low standard of scoring, which was the reason that Pakistan succumbed to South Africa in the first ODI by 125 runs, feels former Test cricketer Zaheer Abbas. "There are many players in the team, who have been playing for a long time and have set a low standard of scoring. They feel that after scoring thirty or forty runs they have done enough to get themselves out of any criticism from team management and fans," Zaheer Abbas told PPI.
"When the players don't bat well, field well and bowl well then how you can expect them to win against a team like South Africa. Pakistan played below par against South Africa in all the departments so South Africa deserved the big victory," he said. Zaheer said that the batsman should play for the country and not for himself and he must not get obsessed by what he already has scored while on crease. "A batsman should not think even after scoring a century that he has done enough. World-class players don't do that. They should continue to try to compile runs even after scoring a century," said Zaheer, who has been known as Asian Bradman for his run scoring abilities.
He criticised the top batting order for playing for themselves and not for the country. None of the players reached forty in the match against South Africa but several players scored around thirty runs during the match. "Our players score around thirty runs and feel as if they were out of danger as nobody would criticise them. However, such attitude from players could never earn a team victory against top class teams like South Africa," Zaheer said. "I think our players are very talented but their attitude is unprofessional. However, Zaheer predicted close encounters in the coming matches and said that senior players should start taking responsibility.