'Travelling is an excuse': Shoaib Malik questions Pakistani players' professionalism following World Cup exit
The Green Shirts were handed a 93-run defeat by England in their last mega-event match
Pakistani all-rounder Shoaib Malik criticised Pakistani players following their ICC World Cup 2023 exit as the Green Shirts lost to England by 93 runs in their last game of the tournament in Kolkata.
Malik, who has represented Pakistan in 446 international matches, questioned Pakistani players' professionalism saying that travelling shouldn't be used as an excuse as every other team in the mega event has travelled.
“Travelling is an excuse. The whole world is travelling. Look at India’s calendar. Their pacers didn’t lose pace and swing. It is the professionalism, which is missing in our team,” Malik said while talking on a local sports show.
"You ask half of them and they would not know how to recover. In the recent past, we didn’t have any ingredients, which can help you to get rid of cramps. We saw that in the case of Maxwell, they gave him some gels and he played with severe cramps. It is all excuses. Travelling doesn’t matter."
Malik went on to explain why the players get cramps and how the selection process affects it.
“You pick players after one match performance in the PSL. When you go to the crunch situation, your nerves will be tightened and then it will be followed by the cramps. It is not that only because of dehydration you get those cramps, it comes because of pressure as well,” he added.
The 41-year-old urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to play their B side if a touring team comes without their main squad.
“They should make a rule that if the travelling team has sent their B squad, make sure that our B players are facing them for the sake of their development,” he said.
It is worth mentioning that despite a great start in their mega event campaign where Babar Azam-led unit registered back-to-back wins against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, they went on to a four-match losing streak — the first time in their World Cup history — and became dependent on results of other teams to qualify for the semi-finals.
Even though Pakistan beat Bangladesh and New Zealand to stay alive for the semi-final race but the Black Caps' convincing win over Sri Lanka ended their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage nearly impossible.
Pakistan have now failed to qualify for the World Cup semi-final for the fifth time this century as their last appearance was in the 2011 World Cup semi-final against India, which they lost.
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