ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Imam-ul-Haq levels serious allegations against Pakistan selectors
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Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq has accused his country's selectors of not treating every player on the same criteria. The opening batter further made a bold claim that he hasn't seen Pakistan cricket in such a bad state in the last seven years of his career.
Pakistan cricket team has been going through tough times for the past year or so. Their decline started from the Asia Cup 2023 where they failed to qualify for the final. In the following ODI World Cup, Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals and even lost to Afghanistan.
The situation turned from bad to worse when the Men in Green faced a shocking defeat to the USA in the T20 World Cup 2024 and failed to qualify for the Super Eight stage. The failures in the big tournaments led the former cricketers of the country to criticize the team's performance in a brutal way.
Also read: Sri Lanka T20I squad for New Zealand series announced, Dunith Wellalage dropped
Imam-Ul-Haq speaks on the situation of Pakistan's cricket
During a podcast with CricWick, Imam-Ul-Haq broke silence on Pakistan's performance in the T20 World Cup 2024. He admitted that things were not right during the tournament and the loss to USA further derailed the situation.
"I wasn't in the T20 World Cup (2024) but I've heard a few stories that I feel are worse than the ODI World Cup. I think only those players can tell who has felt all of this. I did talk to Babar (Azam) but I think there's a difference between talking on the phone and being present on the spot," Imam-Ul-Haq said.
"So, I think losing that match (to the USA) and then India, you come to a winning situation where you need run-a-ball and then losing from that point," he added.
Imam-Ul-Haq further claimed that a win is important for the confidence of the players and it can change the state of Pakistan cricket.
"Win is very important for the return of confidence. Although things are changing, captaincy has changed and I think this happens in every country. You cannot control this. Only a win can save us from all these issues," Imam explained.
"Whatever win it might be which brings the confidence of this team back, whether it is a Test, T20I, or ODI. A win is very important for Pakistan cricket at the moment," he noted.
Imam ul Haq (@ImamUlHaq12)
— M (@anngrypakiistan) December 18, 2024
"I haven’t seen Pakistan play this bad in my 7 year career" 🥶
pic.twitter.com/2CjCkv7xbn 🗣️
Imam-Ul-Haq accuses Pakistan's selectors of "liking-disliking
While speaking on giving the chances to the players, Imam-Ul-Haq lashed out at the selectors for creating a situation of liking and disliking a player. He claimed that some players get more chances and some of them do not despite having a similar calibre.
"We gave our players consistent chances but we didn't get the results in the ODI World Cup. The rest of the sides rely on giving consistent chances," Imam stated.
"If you are giving a player 15 matches and if a player of a similar caliber is getting three matches, then you're creating problems for yourself. It (selection criteria) varies from player to player, liking-disliking," he added.
"The confidence of every player is shaken from top to bottom because I don't think I have seen Pakistan play this bad in my 7-year career. And it is our fault as well, whether it's one-day World Cup, Test cricket, the boys are not giving those performances, whether it is fitness," the left-handed opener concluded.
Pakistan's recent form
After being crashed out of the T20 World Cup, Pakistan lost a home Test series to Bangladesh 0-2. It was Bangladesh's first-ever win over Pakistan. However, the team defeated England 2-1 in the next series.
Recently, Pakistan defeated Australia in a historic ODI series win played down under before losing the T20I series. Currently, they are playing an ODI series in South Africa which is played after a 0-2 series defeat in T20Is.
