'Focus on cricket' - Rashid Latif slams Pakistan team for Meet & Greet event before T20 World Cup

Pakistan haven't had the best of preparations for the T20 World Cup 2024, which is being played in USA and West Indies. They come into the tournament on the back of a 2-0 series defeat in England and six months of struggle and instability.

While they should be focusing their energy on preparing for the World Cup, the team had other ideas. Ahead of their opening match against co-hosts USA, on June 7, a private Meet & Greet session was arranged with the team.

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A fee of USD 25 per person was charged for the session on June 2 in Dallas.

The incident hasn't gone down too well with former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif, who slammed the board for the distraction.

How can you Meet and Greet During and before World Cup ? Why @TheRealPCBMedia allow to do private Dinners ? They change practice timings for participate in commercial Dinners . please focus on cricket and money will come automatically.. entry Fees $ 25.00 pic.twitter.com/CKJE2GAJhv

— Rashid Latif | 🇵🇰 (@iRashidLatif68) June 4, 2024

"How can you Meet and Greet During and before  World Cup?" Latif posted on X, formerly Twitter. "They change practice timings for participate in commercial Dinners . please focus on cricket and money will come automatically..  entry Fees $ 25.00."

Pakistan is one of the few teams that will go into the World Cup without playing any warm-up matches. Their opening match is scheduled to be played at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

Former World T20 champions Pakistan made it to the final at the last edition before losing to England. But the team has struggled in the shortest format of the game since then. They have won only nine of the 24 T20Is they have played since the 2022 T20 World Cup.

They have also undergone a change in leadership in the last few months. After Babar Azam stepped down as captain following underwhelming performance at the 2023 ODI World Cup and Shaheen Afridi was handed the mantle. But Azam was reinstated as captain just ahead of the T20 World Cup.

The team has been engulfed by claims of nepotism, in selecting the T20 World Cup 2024 squad, with Azam Khan's inclusion a particular bone of contention. They are still figuring out the batting order, and whether Azam and Mohammed Rizwan will continue to open the innings. Ridden with internal strife and doubt, Pakistan have to iron out a lot of flaws before they are tournament-ready.

Pakistan's schedule T20 Cricket World Cup 2024