Not Babar Azam or Mohammad Rizwan!! Shoaib Akhtar pins the blame on this player for Pakistan's shambolic loss to India

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar expressed his disappointment after team India defeated the Green Army by just 6 runs in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Shoaib Akhtar, who has been a part of this historic match-up during his playing days, mainly questioned Pakistan's intent and application in the game. Despite being very close to winning the match at the Nassau County Stadium in New York, Babar Azam's side eventually lost. With that, India increased their lead over their arch-rivals by 7-1 in ICC T20 World Cup editions.

Pakistan's Super 8 qualification becomes difficult with the loss

The Indian team is now just another win away from entering the Super 8 round, which will see the top 2 teams from each group qualify. While India are certain to finish in the top 2, the scenario for Pakistan to reach the next round has become difficult after the loss. They will now need to win both of their ties against Ireland and Canada and also hope for other results to fall in their favor.

While Babar Azam's men find themselves in a tricky situation, Rohit Sharma and co. can actually finish the Group stages undefeated. India are to play against the USA and Canada in their final group games which are possibly going to be easy but quite tricky matches. As Pakistan tries to stage a comeback, former paceman Shoaib Akhtar is triggered by a number of things from the team.

What did Shoaib Akhtar say about Pakistan's loss to India?

While speaking in his latest YouTube video, Shoaib Akhtar was quite critical about Pakistan's performances which led to their loss against India. Akhtar kept his talk extremely honest and blunt and did not back down from going at the Pakistani team, which could not even chase a run-a-ball target.

Shoaib Akhtar first shed light on India's poor middle-order performance which saw them share just 17 runs between them. After that, the former express pacer spoke about the mistakes that Pakistan made in the game. Akhtar claimed that if wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan had added 20 runs more to his tally, then the Men in Green could have easily won the tie.

Shoaib Akhtar then said that the Pakistani team did not really use their brains as the chase should have been an easy one for them. There was a lack of application from the side and the intent was also quite questionable.

Shoaib Akhtar concluded by saying that he is absolutely hurt by Pakistan's performance as he feels they should have won.

"Very disappointing. It was a run-a-ball chance for Pakistan. Earlier, India’s middle order messed it up. They were 80-odd in 11 overs and could have achieved around 160 but couldn’t. But for Pakistan, it was a close chance. Rizwan could have scored another 20 runs and won the game for the team." - Akhtar said via his latest YT video.

"Sadly, we didn’t apply our brains. A lot of things are questionable, their intent, the application… it’s really sad for the team. Pakistan should have won this game. They were pretty much in the game, requiring 46 runs in 47 balls when Fakhar was there. We had 7 wickets in hand but we couldn’t do it. I’m speechless and hurt, that’s about it." - Shoaib Akhtar concluded.