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PCB unhappy with team’s performance

Special Correspondent

Ashraf questions Pakistan’s lack of resolve
Most of the players were locked up in their rooms

Dhaka: Predictably, the normally articulate Pakistan team manager Talat Ali was a touch grumpy at the team hotel on Wednesday night.

Disappointment was writ large on his face. The Pakistani cricketers are in a spot of bother for their meek display against India in the league game at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.

The 140-run defeat — Pakistan’s heaviest ODI setback against India while chasing — has not gone down well with the PCB.

The PCB chief Nasim Ashraf, in an e-mail to Mr. Ali, has questioned Pakistan’s lack of resolve, skipper Shoaib Malik’s fitness and wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal’s integrity after he claimed a catch which the replays later showed had been floored.

This Pakistan team is a far cry from the sides of the 80s and 90s under Imran Khan that played with great pride and passion. Those sides could orchestrate comebacks, with the indomitable Javed Miandad in the thick of things.

A pale shadow

Amid allegations of corruption and favouritism in selection, the present Pakistani teams look a pale shadow of some spirited sides of the past.

Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja told The Hindu: “They appeared a bunch of schoolboys playing against an international side. At this level, nothing should be given away easily.”

Malik is a sincere cricketer but he is clearly not being able to call the shots as captain with several seniors in the ranks. He still appears a lonely man under siege.

Ashraf says Malik should undergo a fitness test to find out whether he is in a position to bowl ten overs of off-spin. Malik’s spin is being missed by the side.

Pakistan erred in not picking a second spinner against India on a sluggish Mirpur surface and the point has not been lost on Ashraf. He has questioned the inclusion of an extra paceman for the match.

Akmal under fire

Akmal’s place in the squad was under scrutiny in the series. Now, his ’keeping has been described as “pathetic” by Ashraf. Referring to Akmal’s claim for a catch against Virender Sehwag when the wicketkeeper had spilled the ball, the PCB chief said: “I do not want such behaviour from any Pakistani player. Please warn everyone. We ought to be looking at playing another ’keeper,” he said.

Ashraf’s message to the Pakistan team is clear: Clean up your act before the final (if the side makes it).

Meanwhile, most of the Pakistan cricketers, jolted by the defeat, were locked up in their rooms. A couple of them ventured into the restaurants, but were unwilling to open out.

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