‘I regret it’: Imad Wasim’s admission on sluggish India knock days after ‘deliberately wasted deliveries’ accusation

Pakistan are out of the T20 World Cup. Is it surprising? Yes and no. Yes, because the team pulled off a classic Pakistan. And no, because, well… how could they not have qualified for the Super Eight stage when you had the USA and Ireland in the same group? But that’s Pakistan for you – always unpredictable. Semifinalists in 2021 and finalists in 2022, 2009 champions Pakistan have endured a first-round exit. And this will sting.

It all went downhill when Pakistan lost to the USA, and a defeat against India only made it worse. It was Pakistan’s best chance to break their ICC hoodoo over the arch-rivals, but they bottled a chase of 120 with the equation at one stage, reading 53 needed off 48 balls with eight wickets in hand. Imad Wasim, one of the villains of Pakistan’s loss, as declared by the public copped plenty of flak for his weird knock of 15 off 23 balls. The all-rounder came out of retirement for the World Cup, but the outcome, as it turns out, clearly didn’t go as planned.

Imad was levelled serious allegations by former Pakistan batter and captain Salim Malik, who feels that he deliberately wasted deliveries. “He [Imad Wasim] made sure he doesn’t get out and keep bettering his batting average. If I’m a batter and I’m not getting runs then I would try taking risk, no matter if I get out. But he kept on eating up deliveries and then changed the ends with singles,” Malik said.

“Imad Wasim didn’t get to play much cricket since the last PSL. Shadab Khan, who scored 40-odd against the USA in the last game, shouldn’t have been promoted up the order. Sorry, but I would like to question why he [Imad Wasim] was promoted up the order, given that he hadn’t got enough chances before [the World Cup]. The batter should at least have tried something instead of playing dot balls.”

Ahead of Pakistan’s final T20 World Cup match, albeit an irrelevant one, against Ireland as both teams are knocked out, Imad opened up on his innings against India, where he admitted letting the team down and regretting every bit of it.

“I let down because usually when I go in this situation, I am very calm and finish the job. And this was my job to finish which I couldn’t do. I will regret this and I still regret it. But this is life. Sometimes you make mistakes. But life is like that; sometimes you make mistakes. So, you can say that this was a phase in my life that I unfortunately could not achieve. I will regret it, but my execution was not good.”

‘This is Pakistan cricket’s lowest point’

Pakistan have achieved some memorable highs in world cricket, but it’s their ability to come back from the dead that kept the hopes alive among its fans. Expecting something similar this time around as well, Pakistan’s last ray of hope depended on the outcome of the USA vs Ireland game. A win for Ireland would have kept them alive. They needed to beat Ireland in the last game and with a superior run rate, Pakistan would have qualified.

However, with USA-Ireland getting washed out, Pakistan’s return tickets were booked. Imad called it the ‘lowest’ point in Pakistan cricket, ruing the fact that their cricket has gone back instead of progressing.

“This is the lowest point. You can’t go any lower than this. That’s the fact. We used to rule in T20 cricket. I think we have moved back a little now. Maybe our mindset [needs a change] – in all three areas. I won’t say any one area. If you change the mind of the player, you can achieve things beyond your limits. I always believe in this,” he added.