LAHORE: Former captain Ramiz Raja lashed out at the Pakistan team after their defeat against New Zealand in the third T20I in Rawalpindi on Sunday.
On his YouTube channel, Raja said that Pakistan should not lose to the New Zealand side at home.
“Promotion is part of cricket, but losing like this is a bit of a shock, especially with the World Cup around the corner. Playing at home, in your favorite place, against a team that is not even a full-fledged team – first class or even the New Zealand second class team – is a shameful loss.” he said.
“Let’s face it, everyone’s luck can change in T20, but to see the table turn like that in 24 hours is a blow to Pakistan’s reputation. For some time now, there has been a feeling that one can expect something from Pakistan in the prize. 24 an hour ago, Pakistan beat them by 7 wickets and 24 lost by 7 wickets after an hour,” he said.
He also urged the Pakistani batsmen not to drop their wickets once they go.
“It shouldn’t be like that. Wani shouldn’t get out after only 20-30 runs. So the score is only 180. This pitch is at least 250 runs because we know how many runs have been scored here before. The series is level at 1-1 with two matches remaining in Lahore.
New Zealand scored 179 with Tim Robinson (28) and Tim Seifert (21) scoring 42 for the first wicket.
Back-to-back dismissals by hosts Naseem Shah and Abbas Afridi were coming back, but Chapman, paired with Dean Foxcroft, had a plan.
The left-hander was aggressive with 117 runs, with Foxcroft giving him excellent support. Chapman reached his fifty-eighth in this format and finished with an unbeaten 87. He hit nine fours and four sixes in his 42-wicket haul.
Foxcroft made 29 for 31 as the chase ended in 19 overs.
Before that, the host got off to a good start with Saim Ayub dominating the visitors. The opening pair of Saim and Babar won 54-0. Saim was caught by James Nesham off the bowling of Ish Sodhi after scoring 32 off 22 balls at 145.45.
