Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi to be dropped? Imad Wasim advocates sweeping changes in Pakistan to recover from T20 WC disaster

Pakistan all-rounder Imad Wasim has admitted that the team and its process are set to undergo a drastic change in the coming months.

Imad Wasim made this admission during his press conference after Pakistan’s exit from the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in USA & West Indies was confirmed. Due to the losses they had suffered in their first two Group A matches against the United States and India, the Men in Green could not go through to the Super 8.

It happened also because other results did not fall in their favor. But still, they cannot blame their luck or any other team for not helping them out in this T20 World Cup as they didn’t play well enough to proceed to the next round. The 2024 edition was expected to be a successful ride after the previous two in 2021 and 2022 but this one turned out a nightmare. 

All the experience they tried to bring in after giving callbacks to Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir went down the drain. But their pre-mature departure from the T20 World Cup will surely reveal what they should and should not do. On the eve of Pakistan’s clash against Ireland, Wasim reflected on the future plans and if changes are to be implemented.   

What did Imad Wasim say? 

Imad Wasim was asked a variety of questions in the press conference which ran for almost 20 minutes. One of the questions was about whether there will be a change in the cricketing system or not.

To that, Wasim spoke about a drastic change taking place in the future, claiming there’ll be attempts to counter world cricket and how the game is played by others.  

“This is not my domain but I think there should be changes and there should be a drastic change. So we can move forward and fight with the World cricket and how the cricket is played that’s what I can say,” Wasim said.

Wasim wants Pakistan to change their approach 

When asked to point out areas wherein changes can be made, Imad Wasim stated that every single department needs a re-look. In terms of taking the game on as well as developing a new style of cricket is going to be Pakistan’s agenda. Wasim said that it was the reason why he was called back but it was unfortunate because it didn’t work out well.   

“I already mentioned everything, in every aspect (of the game) – how to take the game on, how to play the game, this is what I believe in and this is why I came back and tried to do things but it couldn’t happen,” Wasim added.

Imad Wasim also said that the pitch in New York was tougher than it looked and that any team could have beaten any team over there. 

“We also feel that the wickets are a bit different than what you think. Any team can beat anyone. Things can happen but I think the approach, how we play the game, I think we will change that. Every boy is eager to do that because this defeat hurted us badly,” Imad Wasim concluded.