Lahore, June 3 (IANS) Former Pakistan stars lambasted the current national team after its abject surrender against a depleted Australian side in the first two matches of the ODI series in Lahore on Tuesday, declaring that the country’s cricket is going down at a fast rate, a news report said on Wednesday.

The 41-run defeat in the second ODI, which meant Pakistan conceded an unbeatable 0-2 lead in the three-match series, came a fortnight after a humiliating 2-0 whitewash in the Test series in Bangladesh, which was also described as the “lowest point in Pakistan cricket”.

Former captain Rashid Latif said wrong selection and failing in game awareness caused the steep fall. “Pakistan cricket is going down in speed,” Latif told Telecom Asia Sport. “The selection is based on ‘take my two and I take your two, ‘ which is wrong and makes the selection strange.”

Australia were without seven frontline players, including regular ODI skipper Pat Cummins and his two illustrious pace partners Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Opener Travis Head is also rested, while Mitchell Marsh pulled out of the tour with a calf injury after being named skipper.

“It’s a pathetic performance, but we are now so used to this humiliation that we do not feel pain in our hearts,” former pacer Sikander Bakht told www.telecomasia.net. “Everyone is biding time, and players with so little experience of first-class cricket are part of the squad.”

Latif urged the Pakistan Cricket Board to make the management accountable. “We have to make the management accountable and make them better. If they are selecting the wrong eleven and squad, then the results will be like this.”

Latif blamed the ploy of using spin-friendly pitches as the team’s bane. “We dug a grave where spinners were taking wickets, but in the second match we ourselves fell in that grave,” said Latif, referring to spin pitches used in the series.

Pakistan took eight wickets through spinners, with debutant Arafat Minhas taking five in the first ODI in Rawalpindi. They won the match by five wickets.

“We are selecting T20I players in ODIs, which is wrong. Sahibzada Farhan, Maaz Sadaqat, and Abdul Samad are T20 players, and they are not attuned to playing 50-over cricket. Our batters lack quality defense, which is hurting their batting.”

Former batter Basit Ali said Australia showed a mirror to Pakistan. “Australia did a good homework and showed our team the mirror as to how you stage a comeback.”

Basit blamed head coach Mike Hesson for the failure. “Hesson should be asked what he is doing with the Pakistan team. Is this the way to prepare for the World Cup? He is damaging Pakistan cricket.”

–IANS

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