LONDON: Former skipper Rameez Raja on Thursday lashed out at the Pakistan team for losing to Australia in the crucial World Cup match at Taunton and said the team lacked discipline in all three departments of the game as well as selection.

Rameez questioned the Pakistan team management for dropping a key player like Shadab Khan for such an important match. The leggie would have taken David Warner’s wicket for sure,” he said while speaking to a leading channel after the match.

“We fielded poorly and it was a bad decision of the captain to place Asif Ali in the slip as he dropped an important catch of Warner. Babar Azam often stands in the slips but no one knows why he was removed from that position.

He further said that said and added if Asif wanted to play international cricket, he needed to improve his performance in both batting and fielding.

Rameez lauded Wahab’s batting but lamented that the other Pakistani batsmen lost their wickets on poor shots.

Meanwhile, former batsman Mohammad Yousuf called on Pakistan to include Shadab and Mohammad Hasnain in the match against India on Sunday.

“Hasnain and Shadab must be played in place of Shaheen Afridi and Shoaib Malik if Pakistan is hoping to win the India game,” said Yousuf. “Shadab can play better at No 7 than Malik and is a fantastic ODI bowler.”

He said it is time for captain Sarfraz Ahmed to show courage and play aggressive cricket against India rather than remaining cautious.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2019