Following Pakistan’s defeat to Afghanistan within the first T20I on Friday, Shadab Khan, who’s main the group within the absence of Babar Azam, has come beneath scathing criticism from former gamers. With 5 key gamers — skipper Babar, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf rested for the collection — Pakistan handed T20I debuts to batters Saim Ayub, Tayyab Tahir and quick bowlers Ihsanullah and Zaman Khan. However, Pakistan have been restricted to 92/9 in 20 overs after electing to bat.

In reply, Mohammad Nabi guided Afghanistan to a six-wicket win over, hitting an unbeaten 38 off as many supply on a spin-friendly monitor on the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt criticised Shadab for his incapability to learn the pitch and mistaken discipline placements.

“The pitch was conducive for slow bowling. Despite playing so much cricket, Shadab is bowling his fast bowlers and also bowling fast himself. There was no slip for Najib Zadran when he came onto bat. Afghanistan batsmen were struggling against Ihsanullah, but Shadab had kept the fielders at boundary. What is your reading of the pitch that you chose to bat on this pitch? That means you’ve no clue. You went with four fast-bowlers on this pitch, you were not playing in Perth,” Butt stated on his YouTube channel.

After the defeat, Shadab confessed his new gamers have been nervous.

“Tactics wise, we were fine. But sometimes this can happen due to youngsters being nervous. They need to be given chances, they will get better,” he stated.

For Afghanistan, it was a maiden conquer Pakistan in worldwide cricket.

This is the primary bilateral collection between the 2 international locations with the remaining matches additionally in Sharjah on Sunday and Monday.

(With AFP Inputs)