The Pakistan cricket team hasn’t been in great touch in recent times, suffering a shocking group stage exit from the 2024 T20 World Cup, losing one of their matches against the United States of America. Apart from that, Pakistani recently lost a home Test series against Bangladesh by 0-2. Recently, former Pakistani cricketer Wahab Riaz, who had also served as a chief selector of Pakistan recently, got brutally trolled in a local TV show in Pakistan for selecting one of the “worst” Pakistan cricket team.
Wahab Riaz was appointed as a chief selector of the Pakistan cricket team after the Babar Azam-led side failed to qualify through to the semi-finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup in India last year. His first assignment came during a Test series in Australia where Pakistan suffered a 0-3 whitewash down under. After that, Pakistan also lost the T20I series in New Zealand by 1-4. They also lost a T20I against Ireland and a T20Is series in England in the build-up to the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Pakistani TV anchor Tabish Hashmi trolls Wahab Riaz during live show
Coming as a guest on a Pakistani TV show hosted by Tabish Hashmi, Wahab Riaz was asked if Pakistan are playing with their worst team in the history of the game. The host asked’ “Kya aaj ki tarikh ki sabse buri team (Pakistan) is waqt khel rahi hai, Bangladesh se haar gaye, USA se haar gaye (Is this the worst Pakistan team to play cricket recently, they lost to Bangladesh, they lost to New Zealand).” Wahab Riaz had to reply with yes or no to this question.
After thinking for a while, the former cricketer replied with a “yes” and accepted that the current Pakistan team is the worst team to play cricket. In an immediate response to Wahab Riaz’s reply, Tabish Hashmi instantly said “Aapne banayi hai,” indicating that he was responsible for forming this team during his tenure as a chief selector of Pakistan.
Notably, coming into the 2024 T20 World Cup on the back of poor form, Pakistan had a forgettable tournament in USA and West Indies. They lost their first match against the host USA, who were playing their maiden T20 World Cup. After that, Pakistan failed to chase a target of mere 120 runs against India in New York. However, Babar Azam and his side went on to register consecutive wins against Canada and Ireland respectively, but it didn’t help as the Men in Green were already eliminated from the tournament. After a horrible T20 World Cup, Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq were removed from the selection panel by Mohsin Naqvi, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.