India-Pakistan fans waving flags (AP)
Pakistan will face India in the Asia Cup on September 14, and it seems former cricketer Basit Ali expects a brutal hammering for the Men in Green. The Pakistan cricket team is going through a massive slump in international cricket, and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is furious over the returns.
Pakistan finished last in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC), and delivered shambolic performances in the T20 World Cup 2024 and the ICC Champions Trophy. Their performance in bilaterals was also not something to boast about, with the team recently suffering a T20I series defeat to Bangladesh and an ODI series defeat to West Indies.
Basit Ali Furious At PCB For Player Contract Saga
The shambolic performance across formats forced the PCB to make big changes in the central contracts. The board completely removed the A category and downgraded ace players Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan to category B to join Abrar Ahmed, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Shadab Khan, and Shaheen Afridi.
Test captain Shan Masood was also pushed to category D from B, while Naseem Shah was demoted to category C from B. Usman Khan, who left the UAE to play for Pakistan, even failed to bag a contract.
While many cricketers were downgraded in the central contracts, a few were rewarded for their good showings, with Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha and Shadab Khan getting a promotion to category B from C. Basit Ali wasn’t impressed by how Pakistan gave the new contracts and called the saga a complete ‘Joke’.
Speaking to Kamran Akmal on YouTube Show ‘Game Time’, Ali further said, “Ek mazaak September 14 ko bhi hoga. (One more joke will happen when India play Pakistan on September 14).