In the aftermath of Pakistan’s group-stage exit from the 2024 T20 World Cup, Imad Wasim expects them to change their mindset in white-ball cricket.
The only team to appear in six Men’s T20 World Cup semi-finals, Pakistan won the tournament in 2009 and finished runners-up in 2007 and 2022. However, in 2024, they failed to go past the group stage for the first time in the history of the competition.
Pakistan lost to India and the USA. They did beat Canada, but were officially eliminated after the match between the USA and Ireland was washed out.
At the pre-match press conference of their final match, against Ireland, Imad Wasim voiced his opinion on Pakistan’s approach towards T20Is and, generally, white-ball cricket.
“It’s all your mindset. What mindset do you want to play the game with?” asked Imad, who came out of retirement shortly before the World Cup. “You either play fire with fire, or you play your way. I personally believe that you should play fire with fire. And even if you lose, you can sit down and say to yourself that on that day we were not good enough.
"The problem is our team is so good, our players are so good, that we are good enough to play any kind of cricket. We haven’t tried that but the thing is you have to try that, you have to get rid of the fear of failure. In everything – batting, bowling, fielding – you have to get rid of fear of failure.
“Personnel change doesn’t change anything, just changing the mindset can change a lot of things. The same ball can be hit for a six, a four, a single, and that same ball can take a wicket and a be dot ball.”
Since the start of 2020, Pakistan’s run rate of 8.23 while batting first is the seventh-best among Full Members.
Imad lamented the decline of Pakistan, the only team to qualify for the semi-finals in each of the first four editions. “We compete with the world's best teams. Their mindset has changed over time. We used to rule in T20 cricket. I think we have moved back a little now.
“Maybe our mindset [needs to 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. You can talk a lot, but it is what it is.
“Today, we are out of the tournament and whatever happens in the next World Cup, whoever plays, however they play, I think if we go with the right approach, the results will be better for us.”
Imad also spoke about the disappointment in the Pakistan camp: “Me personally and our team, including me, are very disappointed and sad. And the whole public is sad that we didn't perform well and believes we are guilty. We are more disappointed than you are. This is our profession, after all. But I would also like to say that we are human beings, we can make mistakes and we also get affected by these things."
“I think we should play the game the way world cricket is going. We should sort out the way we play the game, the way we should bring awareness, the way we should chase, the way we should approach the game ... “We will sit and sort out our approach. Other teams also go out in early stages, but I don't think Pakistan have exited this way.”
However, he sounded optimistic in the end. "But is it all about how you react after the fall? This is bad but who knows this could be big for Pakistan? We could revamp, revisit and start playing white-ball cricket the way it should be played.”
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