T20 World Cup: Pakistan exit trigger 'sack coach, captain' calls

Pakistan's semifinal exit from the ICC T20 World Cup has triggered an avalanche of criticism against captain Mohammad Hafeez and coach Dav Whatmore with several former cricketers demanding the duo's sacking.

Pakistan were sent packing by Sri lanka in the semifinal last night and former Test captains and internationals have slammed the decision of not playing experienced all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and the captaincy of Hafeez.

"I don't think Abdul Razzaq has been treated fairly and given the respect he deserves as a senior player with many match winning performances to his credit," former Test leg-spinner Abdul Qadir said.

"There was no way you could go into the semifinal without Razzaq after the way he performed against Australia. Unfortunately the truth is he has never been treated properly by team managements and we paid the price today," Qadir said.

He said the team management also made blunders in the batting order.

Pakistan's former captain and batsman Younis Khan, who is appearing as an expert on a channel, said Mahela Jayawardene led his team very well in a low-scoring match and it was his astute captaincy that won the hosts the match.

"He batted well and he captained well and I thought that was the difference between the two sides."

Younis also felt that Imran Nazir had not done his chances of remaining in the team any good by scoring on an average 20 to 25 runs.

"When you score 20 to 25 than you will always be in and out of the team," he said.

Former captain Aamir Sohail, however, came to Hafeez's defence by insisting that people should be patient with him as this was his first major tournament as captain.

But he felt the team management should have played Asad Shafiq from the first match itself.

"He (Asad) is your most composed and technically sound player and he should have been in the team in this tournament where pitches were such that one had to bat sensibly instead of trying big hits all the time," Sohail said.

... contd.

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