Basit Ali, a former Pakistani cricket player has made numerous and grave allegations against the current management of the Pakistan Cricket Team accusing them of being biased towards Captain Babar Azam and planning to make scapegoats out of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan for a poor T20 World Cup campaign by the team.
On social media circulated video, Basit Ali, who played 19 Test matches and 50 ODIs for Pakistan, claimed that the management is putting together a report to blame Afridi and Rizwan for their lackluster performances. He cautioned that such actions could bring down Pakistan’s cricket.
“Taeyari jo ki ja rahi hai, jo report banayi ja rahi hai woh banayi ja rahi hai Shaheen Shah Afridi aur Rizwan ke against. Inhone grouping kar di hai. Jo galat hai. Yeh jo report bana rahe hai, jinke mind me yeh cheez hai ki woh apna malba inpar daal de, aisa mat kijiye ga. Pakistan ki cricket tabaah ho jayegi. Tabaah!” Basit said
He then went on to point out that if Babar did not speak with one voice as Afridi and Rizwan he should be removed from the team along with the two others but instead of doing this they would make two victims while one hero.
“Yeh wording issi liye abhi kah raha hoon, allah na kare ye cheez ho gayi toh aap ki bhool haiaagar aap samajhte hai ki Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi aur Babar Azam ek pitch par nahi hai. Agar aapne hatana hai toh teenon ki chhuti karey. Yeh nahi ki do ko aap kurbaani ka bakra banaye aur teesre ko aap hero bana de,” he added.
He also criticized some of the captaincy decisions that Babar Azam made during the recent T20 World Cup as well as other matches, citing one controversial choice where Babar played Nawaz in the last over in Melbourne.
“Galat hai. Babar ne kya kaptaani kari hai. Abhi iss tournament me hi nahi, World Cup se jo woh kaptaani kar raha hai. Jo Nawaz ko Melbourne me usne jo last over karaya tha. Kya aankhen nahi khuli thi tab,” Basit remarked.
Basit further sympathized with Afridi who was stripped off the captaincy after just five games pointing out that this is something which would naturally be disappointing.
“Aap mujhe bataye ek ladke ko paanch match ke baad kaptaani se hata diya, kya usko khaleej nahi hogi. Hum jis TV par baithte hai agar kursiyan hamari change ho jaaye toh khaleez hoti hai – ‘kyun meri kurshi change kardi, main sahi nahi bol raha’. Yeh toh natural cheez hai,” he said.
These accusations come following Pakistan’s early departure from ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 having been eliminated at the group stage where they lost to USA and India
