Pakistan's 35-year-old all-rounder Imad Wasim made his comeback to international cricket ahead of the ongoing 2024 T20 World Cup after announcing his retirement back in 2023.
His comeback though hasn’t been marked with applause, rather the veteran batter has received a lot of heat from fans and former players for his horrendous performance in the loss against India in New York.
After bowling out India for a mere total og 119 runs, Pakistan failed to capitalize on their brilliant bowling with the bat and fell short of India’s total by six runs. Imad Wasim batted in the middle order for Pakistan but had a horror show with the bat after going wicket-less in three overs with the ball.
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Imad managed to score 15 runs in 23 balls, managing just a single boundary in his slow paced innings. He was bashed by fans on social media for lacking intent, playing in the middle order and failing to rotate the strike. His 12 dot balls were a major factor in building the pressure on the Pakistani batters.
Following the agonizing defeat against India, Ex-chief selector Muhammad Wasim made a worrying revelation about Imad’s selection in the squad.
READ MORE: 'Don't even play domestic cricket' - Hafeez slams Imad and Amir inclusions in PAK team
What did Muhammad Wasim say about Imad’s inclusion in the squad?
The former chief selector revealed that Imad had kept his knee injury hidden from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and had rather said that he had an issue related to his ribs. If true, this puts a huge question on the professionalism of players as well as the board, especially ahead of such a huge event.
He has a knee injury, and he has had that for five years now, which he has been faking it as an rib injury. How can he bowl in the nets with a rib injury, how can he bowl without any fitness test, it shows that there was nothing related to his rib, he has a knee injury which is clear with his on-field performance.
READ MORE: 'He didn't get out and tried to increase his average' - Imad Wasim slammed
Muhammad Wasim further went on to state that this was the same reason behind dropping him from the team, and these are some players who have absolutely ruined the dressing room and should be out of the team
Azam Khan has been bashed for fitness issues numerous times, but same has been the case with Imad. He has suffered the same issue for five years now and this is the reason he was also dropped from the team. I asked him to sort out his fitness issues first. Why is it that the team starts losing when you are selected in the team?
Muhammad Wasim also went on to the lengths wherein he stated that numerous coaches have termed that these few players are a cancer for the team, he stated that he won’t prefer taking names but the results were there when they were dropped. But it seemed obvious Imad was one of the players he was referring to.
"These players keep fighting with the management, the coach and captain at some point in time. They are a cancer to Pakistan cricket team," he stated.
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Pakistan are now in danger of crashing out of the T20 World Cup and will need results to go their way, if they are to reach Super 8s.
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