Imad Wasim calls for ‘drastic change’ following Pakistan's T20 World Cup exit

All-rounder takes responsibility for the crucial loss to India

Pakistan all-rounder Imad Wasim has called for significant changes within the national team following their early exit from the T20 World Cup 2024.

In a press conference ahead of their final match against Ireland, Imad took responsibility for the crucial loss to India and emphasised the need for a drastic shift in mindset.

"It's not my domain but I think there need to be changes. There should be a drastic change so that we can move forward and fight with world cricket in the way that cricket is played now,” Imad stated.

Pakistan's hopes of advancing to the Super 8 were dashed when the USA-Ireland match was washed out, securing the USA's progression at Pakistan's expense.

Imad admitted he struggled to execute plans on the challenging New York pitch against India and highlighted the team's outdated approach as a core issue.

“In my opinion, the reason for our defeat in the World Cup was our mindset. We need to take the fear of failure out of our minds and try something new. It is all about mindset, other teams have also changed their thinking, we are behind them because we didn’t change our way of thinking,” he explained.

Acknowledging the impact of weather on their elimination, Imad nonetheless stressed that Pakistan should have secured victories in their earlier matches to avoid reliance on other results.

"You can't control weather. It was raining for the last week, and I've never seen rain in my life like that, so you can't blame the groundsmen or ICC. It was tough that it was washed out but we shouldn't have let this happen - we should have won both our games to be in a safe zone but unfortunately that didn't happen," he concluded.

Pakistan will face Ireland on Sunday in their final match of the tournament at Fort Lauderhill, Florida.