Former Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad has slammed the Pakistan cricket team for their poor fitness levels, while also calling out the repeated nature of comparing their cricket standards with India.
“Fitness level humare players ne wo bana liya hai ki piche sunne me aata tha ki coaches ko apne side pe karke yeh kehte the ki hume bas khelne de, hume khane de, itne paisa hum agar kama rahe hai, khayenge nahi toh faayeda kya hai?” said Shehzad on his YouTube channel. (Our players have set their fitness levels such that… back in the day, we used to hear that they would get the coaches on their side and say, “Just let us play. Let us eat. If we are earning this much money, what’s the point if we don’t eat?”)
“Itni gaaliyan khaate hai, itni tanqeed sunte hai, aur khoti bhi na khaye? Toh roti toh khane de hume. Toh woh roti ke chakkaron mein jo tounde, woh bahar aane lag gaye, aur duniya ke andar tounde andar jaane lag gaye. Humari tounde bahar aane lag gayi. Uske baad result aapke saamne hai sara. Aap Bharat ke playeron ke fitness utha ke check kijiye,” he added. (We get so many abuses, hear so much criticism, and then we can’t even eat roti? So let us eat roti. So in that dream of roti, the belly started coming out. And in the world, bellies started going in. Our bellies started coming out. After that, the result is all in front of you. You go and check the fitness of Indian players. See what theirs is like.)
Shehzad tried dissecting the reason behind Pakistan cricket’s downfall. He said, “What’s the reason for Pakistan cricket’s downfall? We have great love for comparing our cricket with India. First, the 2023 World Cup, the 2024 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, the Asia Cup, then this 2026 World Cup, and after that they’ve (Pakistan) even lost a series in Bangladesh. So who is responsible for this? What is the reason that one team has gone so high that it can’t be caught… that’s India… and the other team has fallen so low that it can’t get up?”
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He continued: “What did the two countries do differently? There are many things. There would be a list we couldn’t possibly describe when someone does well. One thing, there is no doubt that the player development program that India have, Pakistan do not have at this time. And the calibre of domestic cricket that is in India, the coaches that are in India’s domestic system, Pakistan don’t have that.”
The Pakistan team also copped some scathing criticism after they lost to India in the T20 World Cup by 61 runs. Spin-bowling all-rounder Shadab Khan had then pointed out that none of the former Pakistan players criticising the current lot now managed to beat India in a World Cup. He had said that the former players are entitled to their opinions before pointing out that none of them managed to do what they did in 2021, which was to beat India in a World Cup match, T20I or ODI.
Shehzad also took a dig at Shadab for his comment and said, “Then the audacity is such that they say, ‘You (former players) didn’t beat India.’ What difference are you bringing? You are still living in the past. So the person who lives in the past, the cricket board that lives in the past, what are they supposed to do in the present? What difference are they supposed to make? Nothing.”
Pakistan failed to reach the knockout stages of the last four ICC events. They were knocked out of 2026 T20 World Cup from the Super 8 stage.
