Shoaib Akhtar: Average mindset, average results

Pakistans shocking onerun defeat against Zimbabwe at the ICC Mens T20 World Cup sent murmurs around the world as former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar lashed out at Babar Azam and Co saying he had feared such a thing would happenNotably the former Pakistan pacer had earlier predicted that Pakistan may be knocked out in the first round itselfPakistans overreliance on their opening batting pair came back to haunt them as Zimbabwe pipped them in a lowscoring thriller by one run to clinch their first Super12 win of the ongoing T20 World Cup on Thursday at the Perth StadiumPakistan made a mess of a paltry chase as they suffered a batting collapse and left their bowlers to chase and win the match for them Allrounder Sikandar Raza took three wickets in a short span to dismantle the chaseThats embarrassing to be most polite he had tweeted firstAlso readBabar Azam We will learn from this defeatHe then followed it with his match analysis and said that nothing can be done on its own one needs to put in effort he tweeted in HindiAgar Zimbabwe hai toh khud he ho jaaye ga sab kuch Nahi khud nahi hota kerna parta hai he added in another tweetThe former Pakistan pacer tweeted a video with the caption Average mindset Average results Thats the reality face itThe former pacer also called out the choice of players for the tournament and stressed on the difficulty that the team may face in qualifying for the semifinalsIn a video he said Very very embarrassing Keep on selecting average players and team management This is the outcome I am super disappointed I mean losing against Zimbabwe Now you are not even going to qualify with easeComing to the match chasing the target Pakistan were off to a slow start after openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were watchful of the new ball and scored just three runs from the first two overs Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani bowled the first and the second respectively and stuck to tight lines with both bowlers extracting bounce from the surfaceBabar and Rizwan struck a boundary each in Ngaravas second over to get the inning going but the Pakistani captain was dismissed by Brad Evans in the fourth over sending him back for a paltry score of 4 9Rizwan too followed suit as he was sent back by Muzarabani for 1416 exposing the middle order of the Pakistani teamPakistan ended the powerplay at 282 with the top scorers from the previous match Iftikhar Ahmed and Shan Masood at the creaseHowever the partnership did not last long as Luke Jongwe removed Iftikhar in the eighth over to deepen problems for the Pakistan team furtherMasood kept the scoreboard ticking and took his team to 543 at the end of the 10 overs striking some picturesque shots during his stayThe batting duo of Masood and Shadab Khan looked set to take the team across the line but a twist in the tale began after the introduction of spinner Sikandar Raza in the 14th overRaza dismissed Shadab and Haider Ali in two consecutive deliveries to turn the match around for his team giving them a shot at victoryThe set batter Masood was the third victim of Razas offspin in the 16th over as the Zimbabwe players now believed they had a genuine chance at victory This wicket saw tailender Wasim Jr join Mohammad Nawaz for the runchaseThe pacers then bowled with their tails up as they could sense victory within grasp Ngarava then bowled a threerun 16th over to tighten their screws on the Pakistani teamNeeding 29 from the last three overs the batters swung and miss under pressure Nawaz tried his best to make his team get across the line and hit a six in the 19th over to reduce the equation to 11 from the last oversBrad Evans conceded a boundary on the second ball of the over and it looked like Pakistan would bag the match but Evans bowled superbly to dismiss Nawaz on the fifth ball and then held his nerve to defend three off the last ball to help Zimbabwe beat Pakistan by one run in a nailbiting encounterEarlier Pakistani bowlers unleashed hell upon the batting lineup of Zimbabwe to trigger a batting collapse restricting them to just 1308Pakistans decision to play an extra pacer in Mohammad Wasim Jr worked wonders for the team as the youngster ended with his best T20I bowling figures 424 to restrict Zimbabwe to a belowpar total Sean Williams and Brad Evans helped the team cross the 100run markSikandar Raza was declared the Player of the Match for his brilliant bowling performance