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Pakistan legend Wasim Akram has questioned why England packed their squad with bowlers and then used part-timers during their defeat to Afghanistan.
Wasim Akram (left) is puzzled at England’s team selection for the Champions Trophy. (Screengrab/AP)
In their third successive ICC white-ball tournament, England have failed to make it to the semifinals. After winning the 2022 T20 World Cup, England finished 7th at the ODI World Cup in 2023, exited in the Super 8 round of 2024 T20 World Cup and have been eliminated from the semifinals race of the ongoing Champions Trophy.
They lost to Australia despite setting a mammoth total and then allowed Afghanistan to recover from 37/3 to a match-winning total of 325/7. With two defeats from as many matches, their campaign ended early.
Pakistan fast bowling legend Wasim Akram revealed that he texted former England cricketer Neil Fairbrother who told him that he cried after the Jos Buttler-led side’s defeat Afghanistan.
“Cricket loving people in England must be quite upset. I just messaged my dear friend Neil Fairbrother, he literally said, ‘I just wept’. I said, ‘Hang on a minute buddy! It’s just a game. And it was always on the cards,'” Akram said on cricket chat show Dressing Room.
He then dissected England’s Champions Trophy squad, questioning their strategy of deploying part-time bowlers against Afghanistan despite picking as many as eight bowlers.
“I want to mention one thing from England squad. Look at it, they have three batters (specialist) and they’ve eight bowlers and then they played one bowler less. Their fifth bowler was Joe Root and Liam Livingstone. Can somebody explain why they picked up this squad with one gazillion bowlers in there?” he said.
India legend Sunil Gavaskar, who was part of the discussion, chimed in, “And then they (England) will still start moaning this happened, that happened. Because of the dew. See, they cannot lose and if they do, there has to be an excuse, and it cannot be that they were not good enough on that day or the other team played better.”
“They will start blaming anything. Now they will start blaming India as well because India is playing all their matches in Dubai and ‘why are we not playing all matches in Dubai’,” he added.
For more in-depth coverage of the Champions Trophy, check out the latest Points Table to see where your favorite team stands. Stay updated on the tournament’s top performers with the Most Runs and Most Wickets leaderboards. Keep following for all the latest updates!
- Location :
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
