Pakistan didn’t make it to the final of the Asia Cup in 2023, even though they had a good start to their campaign. In the group stage, they beat Nepal by a huge 238-run margin, but their big match against India was called off because of rain. The Men in Green started the Super 4 round with a big win over Bangladesh by seven wickets, but their confidence was hurt when archrivals India beat them by 228 runs. Read complete details about why the Pakistan cricket team could not reach the Asian Cup finals.
Why could the Pakistan Cricket Team not reach the Asia Cup Finals?
The heartbreaking loss to Sri Lanka by two wickets on Thursday, September 14, put them out of the competition for good. The team led by Babar Azam came in last place in the Super 4 table after India lost to Bangladesh.
After Pakistan was kicked out of the continental event, the national media said there was a split in the locker room and that Babar was met with some resistance from his teammates. So far, nothing major has come out, but former Pakistani wicketkeeper Moin Khan talked about the same thing during a public appearance.
Official Statement of Moin Khan
“You can fix it before the World Cup. If you resolve disputes before the major event, it strengthens the team. Of course, media coverage of dressing-room arguments hurts the team. Since the head coach and team director should interfere, It’s unfortunate if players have a problem with Babar or if Babar isn’t addressing the matter well. They must be in the dressing room to handle these,” Moin said.
“If I’m the captain, and you don’t perform well. I’ll take your name, look at you in the eye. But calmly tell you that we have a lot of expectations from you, and back you. But you need to perform better. Thus, you’d feel offended if I’m talking about you while not paying much attention to you. You’d think I’m making fun of you in front of others. Everyone has an ego. Man management is very important for Babar as well,” he added.
Moin felt the Pakistan captain was isolated throughout his time on the field during the Asia Cup games.
“We saw in the entire tournament, I’ve commented about it earlier as well… no player walked towards Babar. Neither Rizwan came to him, nor even the vice-captain was coming to him. No one was going to him. It felt everyone was scattered, there was no unity,” he further stated.
