'50 off 50 is not going to work anymore': Shoaib Akhtar slams Mohd Rizwan for his innings in Asia Cup final

The legendary Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar slammed Pakistan for their horror show in the final of the Asia Cup T20 tournament on Sunday against Sri Lanka. The Men in Green failed to chase down the total of 171 runs and were only able to post 147 runs on the board, thus falling short by 23 runs in the tournament’s decider.
Shoaib Akhtar Mohd Rizwan

Shoaib Akhtar slams Pakistan for horror show in Asia Cup 2022 final. Picture Credit: AP and Screenshot

KEY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 23 runs in the 2022 Asia Cup T20 final.
  • Pakistan could only manage to score 147 in return of a 171-run target.
  • For Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan top-scored with 55 runs, but he took 49 balls for it.
In the final of the 2022 edition of the Asia Cup T20 tournament, two former champions, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, were up against each other. The game was played at Dubai International Stadium on Sunday (September 11) and in which, for the first time in this tournament, Sri Lanka won the game after batting first. The Islanders were invited to bat first and, with the help of Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s 45-ball unbeaten 71-run innings, they posted a total of 170 runs on the board for the loss of six wickets.
In reply to a 171-run target, Pakistan suffered two early setbacks in the fourth over when skipper Babar Azam (5) and number three batter Fakhar Zaman (0) returned to the dugout. For Babar, it was a horrific tournament as he was unable to stamp his authority in any game and was only able to score 68 runs in six matches. He was the number one batter in the T20I rankings before coming into this tournament, but in this year’s continental event, he never looked like he was someone who had scored 6 fifties and 3 hundreds in the first 10 white-ball games of 2022.
Pakistan failed to chase down the total and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. They could only manage to score 147 runs and their last batter got out on the final ball of the innings. For Sri Lanka, Pramod Madushan emerged as the most successful bowler as he picked up four wickets for 34 runs in his four overs. While all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga lived up to the tag by picking up 3 wickets for 27 runs in his four-over spell, in fact, the final over of his spell was the game-changing one as he picked all three of his wickets in that over only to turn the game in Sri Lanka’s favour. He accounted for the dismissals of Mohammad Rizwan (55), Asif Ali (0), and Khushdil Shah (2) in that over. With the bat also, Hasaranga made a contribution of 36 runs from 21 balls, and his innings was laced with five fours and one six.
After Pakistan suffered a brutal defeat in the decider, former Men in Green pacer Shoaib Akhtar took to Twitter to slam the team’s display and criticised the opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan by saying it isn’t working. He also ripped apart the middle-order trio of Fakhar Zaman, Khushdil Shah, and Itfikhar Ahmed.
"This combination is not working. Pakistan has to look into a lot of things. Fakhar, Iftikhar, Khushdil all need to be looked into. And Rizwan, 50 off 50 is not going to work anymore. Doesn't benefit Pakistan. Hats off to Sri Lanka. What a team," he tweeted.
Along with the tweet, Akhtar posted the link of his YouTube channel in which he analysed Pakistan’s performance in the summit clash and said, "I hope that we are not playing the wrong team every time we are out on the field. The question mark gets put on Rizwan because he has been unable to finish matches. He needs support around him. He can't take 45 balls to score 45 runs, and that is going to be a problem," Akhtar said on his YouTube video.
Rizwan finished the tournament as the leading run getter. He played all six matches and, with the help of three fifties, scored a total of 281 runs at an average of 56.20. But throughout the tournament, his strike rate was criticised, which was as low as 117.57.
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