Did Shoaib Malik take a dig at PAK team selection after Asia Cup defeat? See cryptic tweet
There were a lot of questions being raised after Shoaib Malik was not picked up for the Asia Cup tournament despite being in good form with the bat.
Pakistan’s hope of winning the Asia Cup 2022 title went up in smoke after losing the final to Sri Lanka in Dubai on Sunday. The Babar Azam-led team lost the final by 23 runs despite seizing an early advantage in the match. Following the Asia Cup 2022 final, Former Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik posted a cryptic tweet slamming the liking and disliking culture in the team.
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka: Shoaib Malik takes jibe at friendships inside the team
Taking to Twitter, Shoaib Malik slammed the Pakistan cricket team for giving priority to friendship without taking any names. He wrote, “When will we come out from friendship, liking & disliking culture. Allah always helps the honest…”. Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal responded to the tweet, saying “Ustad G don’t be this much honest.”
Shoaib Malik has not played cricket for Pakistan since November 2021. The all-rounder was instrumental in the team reaching the semi-final of the T20 World Cup last year. There were a lot of questions being raised over Shoaib Malik’s exclusion from the Asia Cup squad despite being in good form.
Last year, Shoaib Mailk while speaking to a noted Pakistan Journalist slammed PCB’s selection criteria stating that the players are selected on the basis of their contacts and not on their skills. He had said, “We have a system of liking and disliking in our cricket, which is something that is present in the rest of the world as well but seems to be a bit more in our culture. The day things change in our cricket system where more importance is given to skills rather than who a person knows, only then will things improve,”.
He had also said, “In the recent squad there were many players who Babar wanted to pick, but they weren’t selected. Everyone has their opinions but the final decision on selection should be that of the captain because it’s he who will fight it out on the ground with his team”,
PAK vs SL Asia Cup 2022 final highlights
After asking Sri Lanka to bat first, Pakistan pacers did early damage putting Sri Lanka on the back foot. Naseem Shah gave the team an early breakthrough by dismissing Kusal Mendis for a duck. Haris Rauf piled more pressure in the powerplay by picking two wickets in form of Nissanka and Gunathilaka. Bhanuka Rajapaksa could have been his third victim had it not been for DRS to overturn the appeal. Dhananjaya de Silva and Bhanuka Rajapaksa put together a vital partnership which looked to slowly bring Sri Lanka back in the game. Bhanuka Rajapaksa carried his bat till the end and remained unbeaten on 71 runs off 45 balls helping Sri Lanka post 170/6 on board.
Chasing 171 runs for victory, Pakistan lost Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman early. Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed stitched a crucial partnership to get the run chase back on track. However, once both the batsman departed it was Sri Lanka bowlers who gained the upper hand by picking up regular wickets. Pramod Madushan Liyanagamage had an outstanding match with the ball finishing with figures of 4/34. Wanindu Hasaranga also chipped in with three wickets to bowl out Pakistan for 147 runs
