THE Pakistan cricket team, which in the first place, got the semi-final berth by chance, miserably failed to perform in the last two stages against Sri Lanka. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory due to the collective hara-kiri by its batsmen.

Perhaps it looks very apt, that after the chain of failures, Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Sami, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Yasir Arafat and Shoaib Malik must leave the game with full humiliation? But the PCB must not allow them the refuge of retirement, they should be fired immediately.

The PCB should also fire all the selectors and the chief selector Iqbal Qasim, for selecting this ‘bunch of retarded’ (words used by Intikhab Alam when our team lost 100 per cent matches in the last Australian tour) spent cartridges and deadwood players, while keeping out of the team, stars like Ahmed Shehzad, Junaid, Awais Zia, Adnan Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Azhar Mahmood, etc.

NAYYAR UDDIN AHMAD Karachi

PCB’s accountability AFTER watching another second-rate performance by a supposedly talented team, I had a mixed feeling.

Proud of the fact that we had reached our second semi-final in three years, I was frustrated for getting so close to another title.

While quick to get over it, our highly critical media couldn’t. For them, there was a perfect opportunity for a pleasant story, and, of course, the blame game started.

From journalists to the underachieving former cricketers, everyone seemed harshly critical and talked about replacing nearly half of the team in the blink of an eye, forgetting, for a few minutes about some of their previous contributions for the nation. Personally, I found it to be a bit disrespectful.

Though a number of our impassioned supporters might agree on the transformation, they should keep in mind that passing on the mantle to the younger generation takes time and patience. The Australian team would be a good model to follow.

Do our men in green really need a change or does someone else take the blame and responsibility of their shortcomings – the coaching system or perhaps the well-backed up board hierarchy?

ALI RIZVI Karachi

Lesson from defeat The exit from the Twenty20 World Cup after losing to Sri Lanka in the semi-finals came as no surprise. Instead of reaching the semis, purely on merit, our team was lucky to be ahead on run rate.

Some of the players were picked from ‘deep freezer’, namely Imran Nazir, Mohammad Sami, Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik.

The peak of these players, if there ever was any peak, has been long gone. Players like Yasir Arafat should never have been considered for such a high-profile event.

Some of our stalwarts like Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal failed to impress.

Afridi, despite his seniority and experience, played like a novice and was unable to suppress his inkling to hit a first ball six. Instead, most of the time, he got a duck on the first ball. Gul’s performance was also below par.

One thing that everyone noticed was the absence of any game plan. The body language of our coach needs to be more positive.

Twenty20 is a game for players having talent, game plan and above all, a healthy body and an intelligent mind. Some of the young players like Nasir Jamshed, Hasan Raza and Umar Akmal have impressed.

We have to learn a lesson from this defeat and prepare a team that would win laurels for our country.

JAFFAR NAQVI Lahore