“It’s Not Like We Have Lionel Messi On Bench”: Ramiz Raja On Criticism Of Pakistan’s Batting Unit

Pakistan cricket team has been subjected to plenty of criticism of late, especially after the manner in which they lost the Asia Cup 2022 final to Sri Lanka. While the openers — Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan — have been delivering on a consistent basis, the middle order looks far from settled. Talks of bringing a veteran player like Shoaib Malik back into the team, just like last T20 World Cup, have also surfaced. When Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja was asked about the same, he had quite a unique take on the matter.

Heading into the T20 World Cup 2022, Pakistan haven’t been at their best. After failing to win the Asia Cup, Pakistan were also beaten at home by England in a 7-match T20I series, 3-4. However, Babar Azam’s men seem to be making progress in the tri-series, featuring New Zealand and Bangladesh.

In their first two matches of the series, Pakistan defeated Bangladesh and New Zealand. But, there still remain question marks on the team’s middle order. Speaking to Geo News, Ramiz Raja was asked about the current nature of affairs and what Pakistan are planning to address this situation.

Raj, in a rather sarcastic take on the subject, said that it’s not like Pakistan have Lionel Messi on the bench and a ‘raddi’ player is playing instead.

“We did it in the last T20 World Cup (selecting Shoaib Malik). I don’t have any problem in doing it again. My philosophy is simple, you should have consistency in selection. You need a strong captain as well. We don’t have Lionel Messi sitting on our bench and it is not like we have selected really bad players. We have limited options,” Ramiz said on the Pakistani channel.

“To increase options and talent pool, we are working on our junior leagues, at this point of time, it’s a bit of hit and miss but my philosophy is to make the captain strong. You should give him the options on which players to give chance to,” he added.

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Pakistan have a number of lesser-experienced players like Shan Masood, Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, etc. in the middle order. Pakistan fans would hope to have these players ready in time and start delivering at the T20 World Cup which is only a few days away from its commencement.