Former Pakistan cricketers voice concern over team's disappointing T20 World Cup opener

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In a shocking turn of events at the T20 World Cup, Pakistan's cricket team suffered a disappointing loss to the USA, drawing strong reactions from former cricketers.

The defeat has been likened to their infamous loss to Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup, with several veterans expressing their concerns and criticisms.

“Disappointing loss for Pakistan. We are not off to a good start, losing to USA. We repeated history, like we did against Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup. Unfortunately, Pakistan never deserved to win. The reason is that USA played very well and they were in a commanding position. Amir saved the match. He and Shaheen tried. They [US] won 37 overs of the contest, if we look at the overall picture. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull it off,” Akhtar said.

Ramiz questioned Amir's approach and stated that he should have stuck to his strengths instead of trying something "fancy."

"Pakistan made mistake after mistake in the selection and strategy aspect. Mohammad Amir tried to do fancy things his go-to ball is Yorker, but there was no control it was a dispirited performance. Nobody looked motivated to fight in the game," Ramiz said.

"Left-arm batter plays a left-arm pacer better. Shadab (Khan) worked a lot to score those 40 runs. It doesnt mean he has form or can go in the crunch moments and score fours or sixes. We don't have fancy shots, we didn't use reverse flick or a ram shot. Fakhar Zaman got left at the non-striker's end. So tactically, this was a big mistake," he added.

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt was particularly critical of Haris Rauf’s field antics during the match. Rauf, tasked with defending 15 runs off the last six balls, conceded 14, allowing the USA to take the game to a Super over.

"He (Haris Rauf) has some weird style when he bowls a ball and just sits on his knees with his hand on his head. It is as if he incurred a loss in shares or someone robbed him. But that is so unprofessional. You never learn anything. They lacked common sense and game awareness." Salman Butt said.

"It is not a surprise that he conceded so many runs because he doesn't look at his field and bowl accordingly. Mid off is inside the circle and yet he bowls full and gets hit for a boundary on the last ball. You can see the captain also screamed at him. When you have mid-off up, then you don't bowl full balls. This is a basic of cricket." he added.

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi also shared his insights, focusing on the strategic errors in the Super over.

“They made a huge mistake by opting for Iftikhar instead of Fakhar to play the first ball of the super over. The left-arm fast bowler would have suited Fakhar because of the angle of the bowling. I don’t know who told Iftikhar to face the left-armer,” Afridi said.