Consecutive defeats in various ICC international events have distanced the Pakistan national cricket team from its glorious past. The team, which included some of the best players in the business, is now facing constant criticism from former international cricket.
Ahead of the third match of the three-match ODI series, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief selector Aaqib Javed tried to defend the team by saying that they have had many wins in bilateral competitions in recent times. Javed wanted to say that it would be wrong to judge Pakistan on the basis of their performance in the T20 World Cup 2026.
Salman Ali and his boys tried well but failed in T20 World Cup 2026
The cricket board had high expectations from the Salman Ali Aga-led Pakistan cricket team in the recently concluded 2026 T20 World Cup. Despite losing badly to arch-rivals India in a one-sided match, Agha and his boys somehow made it to the Super 8 stage of the tournament.
Due to a relatively low run rate, they were out of the title race, even after Charan claimed a much-needed win against Sri Lanka in their last match.
Is Pakistan cricket near its last page?
“Not beating India in the World Cup is no excuse, the result there is 8-0, and even the best captains in the world have played from 1975 to 2026, so keep that aside. In the Super 8 stage, one match got washed out due to rain and we lost one match, the rest nothing happened,” said Aaqib Javed at the press conference with Misbah-ul-Haq, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq.
Here is the video
Journalist – “What is the reason why we are losing against strong teams like India and winning against weak teams”?
Aaqib Javed – “No other captain has won against India. We are currently 8-0 against them. We have lost only 1 match in the Super 8 and won the rest of the games. Nothing has happened… pic.twitter.com/Y0jaNBgv6y
— Abdullah. (@Abdullah_56) 14 March 2026
“Against Sri Lanka, it was not possible to win by that margin. We lost only one match. We were out only on the basis of net run rate. It is too much to make it such a big issue. It is a big issue, but not so big that our cricket gets destroyed or we cannot compete anywhere in the world”, he further said to save the team from more criticism.
Aaqib Javed tried to defend Pakistan
In the same effort, Javed counted down which major teams he has performed well against in recent times. He talked about the Test series against England, ODI series against Australia and South Africa and also mentioned his performance in the Champions Trophy 2025.
The PCB selector said that even though the team may not win the Champions Trophy 2025, they performed well in the tournament.
“We won the Test series against England, which no one expected. In Australia, we won the ODI series after 27 years and then beat South Africa 3-0, which no one had been able to do till now. We fought well in the Test series too.”
Aaqib Javed said, “There was an incident in 2025 CT, but before that the team’s performance was going well. Even now, if you look at it, we have won series against SA, Australia and SL.”
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