ISLAMABAD: Former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq has said that he did not see Pakistan making any effort against India in their crucial Champions Trophy match in Dubai on Sunday.
India secured a six-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan and pushed the title-holders to the brink of elimination from the tournament, with Virat Kohli hitting an unbeaten 100 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Pakistan have lost both their matches and will need Bangladesh to beat New Zealand on Monday to have any chance of staying in contention for a spot among last four teams in the tournament.
Pakistan-born Rafiq, who went public with allegations of racism and bullying against Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2020, said Pakistan had long been disappointing fans with their dismal performances, particularly in significant matches.
“I don’t say this lightly. I didn’t see an effort [by Pakistan]. I didn’t see the, you know, the wanting to be out there and putting themselves in the fire line, you know, I didn’t see that,” he said in Arab News-hosted Instagram live after Sunday’s match.
“And it’s been too long now, you know, it’s been, it’s been far too long.”
Pakistan chased down a record 353 against South Africa this month in a tri-nation tournament at home but crashed in the final to 242 all out in a defeat to New Zealand.
Pakistan hammered India in the final of the previous Champions Trophy in 2017. That was India’s last defeat to Pakistan in a one-day international (ODI) match and Rohit Sharma’s men have since won five of the last six games against their greatest rivals, with one rained off.
Pakistan have been knocked out in the group stage at the last two ICC Men’s Cricket World Cups and suffered the same fate at last year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup after losing to co-hosts USA.
Rafiq said the consistent poor performances had been embarrassing for Pakistani cricket fans, and someone needs to take responsibility to fix things.
“You know, you can’t keep expecting your fans to just forget what’s going on. That was embarrassing, and I don’t think there’s any other words for it,” he said.
“I think the coaching staff, I don’t even know who is the selector [of Pakistani team] because there’s been so many. Someone, somewhere needs to really fix up.”
He pointed out that Dubai stadium was not filled to its 25000-seat capacity despite the India-Pakistan contest, which was not a good omen for the world cricket.
“I think that today should be a warning [to] not just Pakistan cricket, but to world cricket, you know, that ground [Dubai stadium] was not full. Honestly, that ground was not full. And, and at different times people were, it was pretty empty. But Pakistani fans were hardly there,” he said.
“This is you take advantage of this game, which is what world cricket does and expects that this is going to commercialize always. Be very, very careful... there were people that didn’t want to go and watch [the match].”
