Babar Azam among the Pakistan players who will spend holidays in London after horrific performance in T20 World Cup 2024
Pakistan ended its T20 World Cup 2024 campaign on a positive note with a victory over Ireland in Florida. Although the win wasn’t a convincing one, Pakistan made sure to cross the finish line. The bowlers, led by Shaheen Afridi, were lethal and did not allow the Irish batters to settle down. Afridi picked up 3 wickets in his fiery opening spell.
The Men in Green struggled throughout their group stage. They lost the first two games to USA and India, which put immense pressure on them. The defeat to an inexperienced USA side was particularly shocking as Pakistan were expected to cruise past them.
In the next game, Pakistan’s bowlers put India on the back foot after the first innings of the match. But the batters failed miserably as the team fell short by 6 runs. This led to widespread criticism from experts and former cricketers.
Pakistan went on to win their next two matches against Canada and Ireland. But their fate relied on the other results as well. This time, the luck didn’t go their way as rain played spoilsport in the match between the USA and Ireland, thus ending any hopes for the Men in Green.
Pakistan players to spend holidays in London after early exit from T20 World Cup 2024
The team will return to Pakistan on June 19 via Dubai. However, according to the reports, six Pakistan players and the four officials will not return to the country with the team. Those players are skipper Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, and Azam Khan.
While some of the players are planning to spend holidays in London with their families and friends, some are considering playing in the leagues in the UK. County cricket and Vitality Blast are the two leagues currently taking place in the UK.
Babar Azam has been at the forefront of the criticism. The star batter had disappointing returns with the bat as he failed to take his team past the finish line in crunch situations. He scored 122 runs in the T20 World Cup 2024 at a strike rate of 101.66. His leadership has also come under scrutiny as the team has failed to put collective results in their favor.
On the other hand, the team’s white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten, and assistant coach Azhar Mahmood will also head back to their respective homes. Both were granted permission from the PCB as Pakistan doesn’t have any commitments in the upcoming days.
The Men in Green will play a two-match Test series against Bangladesh at home in August. Following that, England is also scheduled to tour Pakistan in August for a Test series. England registered a historic clean sweep the last time they toured Pakistan and will be aiming to continue that form.
