‘What’ve we won before or after 2017 CT?’: Kamran Akmal slams Pakistan’s cricketing policies after whitewash by England

Wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal has slammed the former coaches for the present scenario of the Pakistan cricket team. His statement came after Babar Azam-led Pakistan was whitewashed after losing the last match to England by 7 wickets.

Ben Stokes-led England, which featured mostly inexperienced players as the regulars were isolated due to the Covid-19 outbreak, trashed the visiting party in all the three ODIs. After the humiliating series loss, the Pakistan team has been receiving flak from several former cricketers of the country for getting hammered by a second-string team.

In a conversation with paktv.tv, Akmal heaped praise on England’s cricketing system for setting up an example of how to form a team in adverse conditions.

“The biggest plus point of England cricket is their system. The players they selected for the series didn’t show a single sign of nervousness, neither did they hit the panic button. They didn’t even complain about the absence of regulars who were in isolation, because they have that kind of confidence,” Akmal said.

“All the players have played in domestic cricket hence; they handled the pressure well and played with planning. They passed a message to the world how a cricket team should be made and what should be the selection criteria,” he added.

Akmal further pointed out that the damage was done to the team during the tenure of former coaches and the same old policies of the governing body has hampered Pakistan’s cricketing environment.

“If you have two coaches of similar types, then that will cause problems. Coaches have the biggest role in constituting a team. Did the last two Pakistan coaches improve the team? They started all this and now the current management is facing flak.

“The players need to play cricket more and more. They need to spend more time on the ground. They need to focus on every format but unfortunately, T20 is getting more attention. Their lies the problem,” Akmal said.

“Vicky Bhai [Waqar Younis] was the head coach earlier and then there was Mickey Arthur. What have we won after or before the 2017 Champions Trophy? We were number one in T20Is and in Tests just for a month. But what about India who has been on the top for five years?” he added.

Pakistan will take on England in a three-match T20I series starting from today (Friday).