Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan recently sparked a big controversy after saying that England's T20 World Cup 2024-bound players should not have ditched the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs to compete in the four-match T20I series against Pakistan. Now Ex-PAK wicket-keeper batter Kamran Akmal has come out in defence of the Englishman calling his assessment correct.
Kamran Akmal defends Michael Vaughan
England told its players who were gonna participate in the upcoming marquee event in the USA and West Indies to return and join the England squad taking on Pakistan. This led to them leaving for their country before the beginning of the playoffs. However, Michael Vaughan believed that the atmosphere and the amount of competition in IPL playoffs would have helped the players to prepare for the T20 World Cup better.
Many Pakistan fans and journalists did not appreciate this and started criticizing Vaughan but Kamran Akmal believes that the performance of the Men in Green side has not been up to the mark lately. So, the Englishman is right in his place.
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"Over the past few days, I have wondered why a former England captain is commenting and taking Pakistan cricket non-seriously. It has been a painful thought, but I think he was correct in his assessment. Everybody knows the level of Pakistan cricket. We are losing against smaller teams like Ireland and in that sense Vaughan said that it is not a tough series. So the fault is ours. Had it been any other team like New Zealand, South Africa and India then Vaughan would not have said it. We need to understand that in IPL, the best bowlers and batters are participating with crowds of 40 to 50,000. So it is tough cricket and quality cricket," Akmal said on his YouTube channel.
PCB Chairman to be blamed
Kamran Akmal told not to feel bad about Vaughan's remark but instead take it as motivation for the T20 World Cup 2024 and put on an astonishing performance. He also said the PCB Chairman is to blame for all of this as he has completely ruffled the system.
"The state of Pakistan cricket may be in need of a revamp, but this also presents an opportunity for growth. How do we respond to Vaughan's critique? By showing our mettle in the upcoming T20 series against England. Let's use this as a catalyst to regain our confidence and competitiveness, lest even teams like USA start to see us as an easy target. The Pakistan cricket Chairman is to blame for all of this as he has completely ruffled the system. For now, it remains to be seen if Pakistan cricket team rises to the situation or keeps playing in the same zone as they have done till now," he concluded.
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