Wahab Riaz Asks 'People' Not To Target Players' Families

Pakistan fast-bowler Wahab Riaz has condemned the personal attack on him and his teammates in the wake of defeat to India in the World Cup.  Pakistan players are facing heavy criticism since losing to their arch-rivals last Sunday. India had completely dominated the proceedings to beat Pakistan by 89 runs (DLS method) in Manchester.

Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and surprisingly asked India to bat first on a good batting track. India made Pakistan regret their decision by piling up 336 for 5 in the allotted 50 overs. Rohit Sharma scored 140 while KL Rahul and Virat Kohli scored fifties.

In reply, Pakistan failed to provide any sort of challenge to their formidable opponents. Barring the 104-run stand between Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam, they never really looked in contention to chase down the total. They eventually finished on 212 for 6 in 40 overs, thus losing the game by 89 runs (DLS method).

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In the aftermath of the defeat, the fans have come down hard on the players. But amidst all these, the fans have crossed the lines on several occasions and have also targeted the players’ families. Recently, tennis star and wife of Shoaib Malik Sania Mirza faced the flak after a video came out showing her and other players enjoying in a shisha lounge just hours before the game. And as the matter is getting out of hands, Wahab Riaz has urged the critics to not target the players’ families.

“There is demoralisation when they are personal attacks on us in the media. Criticise us, criticise our performances and we will accept it because we want to do perform better,” Wahab Riaz said.

“I think if people stay away from getting our families into it and focus on our game, that’s more important,” he added.

Pakistan are currently languishing in ninth place in the world cup points table. With just three points from first five games, they now need to win all of their remaining games to have any chance of progressing ahead. They will next take on South Africa. Ahead of the crucial clash, Wahab said that the team has found a way to band together to prepare for the upcoming game.

“The players are each other’s strength. When we speak to people at home, they tell us why did you do this, if you’d done that, you’d have done better. So as a team we know we can lift each other up more than what even our families can do,” he said.

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