Former Pakistan pacer Abdur Rouf Khan has expressed serious concerns over the national team’s preparation for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026, set to begin on February 7.
Rouf slammed the team management for failing to finalize the squad despite extensive T20 cricket activity in recent months.
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“T20 World Cup is about to start in 22 days and Pakistan cricket team management failed to finalize the national squad,” Rouf wrote on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
“What is the point of investing huge amounts on coaches and other members who are not capable to finalize the squad?” he questioned.
He highlighted Pakistan’s neglect of Test cricket over the years, noting that the team’s priority has shifted to the shorter format.
“Pakistan is not serious towards Test cricket from long time. They have neglected this most important format of cricket from over the years. The major priority is short T20 format and we are continuously playing T20 cricket from some time,” he added.
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Khan also criticized the management for excessive T20 scheduling without clear planning.
“In the last six months Pakistan played three T20 matches against South Africa, a tri-nation series with UAE, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh in UAE, T20 Asia Cup in UAE, three-match series with Sri Lanka, another tri-nation series with Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, then toured Sri Lanka for another three-match series and hosting Australia for three matches. But surprisingly failed to finalize the squad, which is the worst example of negligence and incompetency,” he said.
The former pacer expressed frustration over uncertainty regarding key squad decisions, including the wicketkeeper, fast bowling attack, spin options, and fitness of key players.
“We don’t know who will be Pakistan’s wicketkeeper in the World Cup. We are still not sure about our fast bowling attack. We are completely unaware about the status of Shaheen Afridi injury. We haven’t finalized our spin bowlers. We don’t know whether Babar Azam will be selected at number 3 or not. We don’t know whether Fakhar Zaman is fit to play or not,” he stated.
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Khan concluded with a warning about the team’s preparation approach: “And after investing such a huge amount of money, we are once again going to participate in the World Cup in the old traditions and stereotypical way. Only God knows what the outcome will be. Because throwing money around like water without brains and vision has never had a good outcome.”
