• Ramiz Raja criticized Pakistan’s focus on strike rates in T20 cricket.
• Raja believes Pakistan lacks players capable of maintaining high strike rates.
• Babar Azam acknowledges the need for improvement in the middle order.

Ex-Pakistan skipper Ramiz Raja criticized the national cricket team’s fixation on strike rates before the T20 World Cup 2024, especially after Pakistan’s series loss to England with a score of 2-0.

Raja, aged 61, is of the opinion that the Pakistani lineup lacks players capable of maintaining high strike rates over time.

“First of all, get out of the experimental mode. Go with the proper combination and for God’s sake, please come out of the strike rate phobia because Pakistan doesn’t have players of that standard. We will ruin everything by trying to form a team based on strike rate,” Raja expressed on his YouTube channel.

He continued, criticizing the team’s management for their decisions, “You have destroyed this team by changing the opening combination. There is no role defined in the middle order. All-rounders are included in the middle order and two wicketkeepers are playing, fast bowlers keep changing, and Pakistan’s spinners don’t spin the ball. There is no confidence,” he added.

On the other hand, Babar Azam, the team captain, commented on the loss to England in the fourth T20I, emphasizing the need for improvement from the middle-order batsmen.

“First six overs, we played very well. After that, the momentum shifted as wickets fell. Our middle-order needs to step up. You need 2-3 good overs in the middle and in the death as well. England’s bowling was very good. Hopefully, we don’t do this in the World Cup. We made a couple of changes due to the injuries. Our powerplay was good. We have played good cricket in patches,” Babar stated during the post-match presentation.

The Pakistan cricket team is set to face the USA in their opening match of the T20 World Cup 2024 on Thursday, June 6, in Dallas, USA.

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