Champions Trophy – Aaqib Javed laments lack of experience after Pakistan’s early exit

Pakistan have one more match to play, of course, against Bangladesh, who are also already out of contention for the semi-finals in the Champions Trophy. That match in Rawalpindi on Thursday is also under serious threat from rain, and perhaps a sodden outfield, with this having been a wet week in the city.

Javed spoke at length about the various permutations and combinations in selection that could have improved the team’s output this tournament. But clearly still hurting from the loss to India on Sunday, he also made the point that India’s XI had a far greater body of work on their resume than Pakistan’s.

“When Pakistan and India is playing, it’s not only cricket – it’s more than that. You need a lot of experience,” Javed said. “This Indian team was the most experienced – they have almost 1500 games together. And Pakistan is on the bottom, with less than 400 games together. If you look at players like Babar Azam is the only one who has played more than 100 games. Then there’s Mohammad Rizwan (88 ODIs) and then Shaheen Afridi (64 ODIs).

“The rest of them have less than 30 matches. Tayyab Tahir has played like eight games. Imam-ul-Haq (73 games) was coming back in the team. The main thing is, when nothing works, and when you are talking about more than a game, then the experience counts. There is no doubt.”

“Similarly, we had to bring in Khushdil Shah because Saim was unfit. The reason is that in one-day cricket, you cannot go with 5 bowlers. You have to make a combination of seven batsmen and four bowlers.

“When Saim was there, he used to bat at the top and he used to bowl five to seven overs. When he was not there – we saw that if you do a little research – even with the terrific performances that Khushdil Shah has given in one-and-a-half years of cricket, his wickets…there’s no comparison. It was not even a close case or anything. But our job in the selection committee was to give him the best replacement option.”

In the absence of these players, it was down to the big five: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, and Shaheen to step up, Javed said. But match-winning performances from these players never came.

These players have come under particular fire in Pakistan since the team’s exit.

“A common person who doesn’t play and is not part of the team management wants reasons and the names of people because of whom this team is losing,” Javed said. “As far as Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Naseem, and Haris are concerned, our plan was to make the best possible 11 or 15. There is no doubt that Shaheen, Naseem, and Haris are excellent bowlers. If you compare them with the bowling attack of any team, they are one of the best fast-bowling options.

“And if you look at Babar – apart from him what other options do you have? We always say that if the team loses, change the team. This is the most inexperienced team already.”