Pakistan lost the semi-final of T20 World Cup against Sri Lanka by 16 runs. In the tournament Pakistan played some excellent cricket but some of the decision hurt Pakistan cricket team very badly. Pakistan started its World Cup campaign by beating India in warm-up match and then in group stages and in Super 8, Pakistan cricket team won all the matches except of India match.
But to win a tournament like World Cup, captain should be brave enough to drop and select those players who are in form and not those who have only big name and fan following. Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi failed to perform in the tournament but they were given chances in all the matches. Imran Nazir only performed against Bangladesh and failed to perform against big team and continued his disastrous record.
Shahid Afridi who is out of form (in both batting and bowling) from the last 6 months should have been dropped and Abdul Razzaq should have played in playing elven. In one match which Abdul Razzaq played, he scored 22 of 17 balls and showed that if given chance he can score runs.
Instead of Imran Nazir, Asad Shafiq should have played. Nasir Jamshed opens with Mohammad Hafeez and Asad bats at number three but that was never the case. In the semi-final match, it was a big mistake to send Afridi at lower order as he was in pressure it was very unlikely that Afridi would have performed at that time. It would have been good, if he would have been send at number three.
Now it is time to drop Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi and also Mohammad Hafeez as he is also unable to play aggressive cricket and stats shows that he is on the top who plays dot balls a lot. Openers in T20 cricket needs to have a strike rate of more than 130 but Mohammad Hafeez strike rate is 109.29
It is not only mistake of Mohammad Hafeez (as he is also new as a captain) to play Imran Nazir & Shahid Afridi and drop Asad Shafiq & Abdul Razzaq, tour selection committee and coach Dav Whatmore is equally responsible.