T20 World Cup: Pakistan Coach Kirsten Urges Senior Players To Improve

Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten has urged the experienced players in his squad to improve their performance after the team’s disappointing start to the T20 World Cup.

Pakistan, led by captain Babar Azam, suffered a shock super-over defeat to co-hosts USA in their opening match in Dallas before losing by six runs to their arch-rivals India in Sunday’s thriller in New York.

Two defeats in two games have left Pakistan second-bottom in Group A behind leaders India, second-placed USA and third-placed Canada.

To have any chance of qualifying for the Super 8s stage, Pakistan must beat Canada on Wednesday and Ireland on June 17 and hope India and the USA falter, too.

Kirsten, who took over as Pakistan’s white-ball coach a week before the T20 World Cup, said the team had put themselves under extreme pressure after losing to India, which was their seventh defeat against them in eight meetings at the tournament.

“These guys are all international players and they’re aware that when they’re not performing at their best that there’s going to be pressure put on them,” Kirsten said.

“That’s understandable, but a lot of these guys have played a lot of T20 cricket around the world over many, many years and it’s really up to them to decide how they’re going to take their games forward.

“So, if you’re not up to it and you’re not improving, you’re going to get found out somewhere,” he said.

Pakistan’s current squad includes several experienced players such as Babar, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Fakhar Zaman.

Kirsten said he has been with the team for a “handful of days” and is trying to fix the issues.

“I look at these players, I’ve watched them play many, many years on TV and kind of getting to know them, they’re fantastic guys,” Kirsten, the ex-India coach, added.

“They’re playing for their country, so they really are pumped. I mean, there’s a lot of very disappointed guys in the changing room now.

“I think for me, the most important thing for every international player is that you continue growing and developing as a player, and understanding what the demands of international competition are. The game is changing pretty much every year.”

Even though Pakistan’s hopes for Super 8s look bleak, Kirsten remains optimistic.

“We’ve still got a chance in the tournament. We’re still hopeful that things can play (into) our hands. We’ve got to play a lot better cricket than what we are playing,” Kirsten added.