World Cup 2023: Pakistan spinners haven't been effective, admits Iftikhar Ahmed after Afghanistan defeat

Pakistan’s spinners have been ineffective in the ongoing ICC World Cup, admitted all-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed after their shock eight-wicket defeat against Afghanistan on Monday.

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The 1992 world champions face the prospect of missing out on the semi-finals for a third consecutive editions, suffering a hat-trick of defeats after getting their campaign off to a promising start.

After defeats against India and Australia, Pakistan were outplayed by the relatively unfancied Afghans at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday, where they failed to defend a target of 283.

Iftikhar, an off-spinner himself, rued the absence of a front-line finger spinner in the 13th edition of the marquee event, with leg-spinner Shadab Khan the only proper spinner in the side. Both Iftikhar and left-arm orthodox spinner Mohammad Nawaz are all-rounders.

“We do have finger spinners in our team, including me and (Mohammad) Nawaz. Yes, the role of our spinners hasn’t been that effective here. But we will keep trying to improve. That’s all we can do,” he told reporters after the loss.

Pakistan put up 282/7 on the board after electing to bat first on the back of half-centuries by Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam and contributions by the lower order batters Shadab Khan and Iftikhar.

“Frankly speaking, this was a wicket of 300-plus. But, their bowlers did trouble us. As a batting unit, we need to improve.”

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Babar and his men have been sloppy in the field, dropping catches, and giving away runs and boundaries.

“We made a lot of mistakes during our fielding, I admit. But, we need to improve; that’s the only option we have for now. If you are playing against a world-class side, you have to perform at a similar level across departments. Only then you will be able to survive.”

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The Men in Green have now entered the ‘must-win’ stage. They have to win their remaining games as well as need some favourable results to make it to the semi-finals but Iftikhar thinks there is still time left to bounce back.

“We can definitely bounce back. There’s no doubt that we possess the abilities, and we have world-class players in our side.”

“We still have a lot of matches left. But we have to win them all to get into the top four,” he signed off.

With inputs from PTI