Virender Sehwag urges ICC to reconsider India-Pakistan groupings in T20 World Cup

Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has recently shared his views on Pakistan's performance, highlighting the need for the Men in Green to address its weaknesses.

In a recent interview at a local sports platform, Sehwag expressed astonishment over Pakistan's loss to the USA, questioning the team's selection and performance. 

He emphasized the lack of high strike rates among Pakistani batsmen, noting the absence of players with strike rates exceeding 200. 

"How can you lose to the USA? Pakistan need to evaluate whether the team they picked was better or not. There were so many openers in the team. No one plays with a strike rate of over 200," Sehwag said.

"I haven't seen Babar Azam or Mohammad Rizwan bat at a strike rate of over 200. The same combination has been repeated for the last three T20 World Cups, and the result is also the same," he added.

Sehwag dismissed attributing the defeat to rain, asserting that even a victory wouldn't have justified Pakistan's progress due to expected challenges in subsequent stages. He highlighted the importance of realizing shortcomings, especially in losing to debutant teams.

“How can you blame rain? Even if you had won, you didn't deserve to go ahead. You would've lost in Super Eight stage. You wouldn't have had easier opponents there. You need to realise that you are losing to first-timers, you don't deserve to go ahead. You can't chase 120 runs against India, score 113 with wickets remaining... how can you blame the rain?” he said.

Regarding ICC's groupings of India and Pakistan in tournaments, Sehwag advocated for a strategic review, citing the 2007 World Cup where neither team progressed to the second round despite being in different groups. He suggested reconsidering the grouping strategy to avoid potential upsets and ensure competitive matchups.

“In 2007, neither India nor Pakistan qualified for the second round. We were in different groups back then. Now, ICC will rethink on keeping India and Pakistan in a group and ensure they don't keep a team that beats them!” he concluded.