Mohammad Rizwan's brutally honest admission on early T20 WC exit: ‘Pakistan team deserves the criticism’

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Pakistan star Mohammad Rizwan opened up on the criticism the team has been facing since their early exit from the 2024 T20 World Cup. The Asian side had a horrible campaign in the USA as they didn't even take the flight to the Caribbean for Super 8 after they were knocked out from the group stage. They started the campaign with a shocking defeat against the USA, a non-Test playing nation, in the Super Over and it was followed by another loss which they suffered against arch-rivals India.

Rizwan also had a forgettable tournament on a personal level as he scored just 110 runs in four innings at an average of 36.66 and a strike rate of 90.90, with one fifty, which came against Canada. He faced criticism for his poor shot selection against India, where he threw his wicket away in a crucial situation after facing 44 balls, scoring 33 runs at an underwhelming strike rate of 70.45.

The wicketkeeper batter made an honest admission that they had let their fan down with their performance in the T20 World Cup and deserve the criticism the team is facing at the moment.

“The criticism the team is facing is justified and we deserve this since we didn’t perform in accordance with expectations. Players who can’t face criticism won’t be able to succeed,” he said speaking to the media.

He also compared the team to an ill person in need of an operation and said that the PCB chief has the right to decide on the team's future.

“We are disappointed with our performance in the T20 World Cup. There are multiple reasons behind our losses. When a team loses, one can’t say that bowling and batting is doing well. Operations are a normal thing. When a person is ill, an operation is necessary. PCB Chairman is a hard-working person. The decision about who will remain in the team and who will not is the chairman’s right,” Rizwan added.

Pakistan ended their campaign with a three-wicket win over Ireland in Florida in the Group Stage, a dead rubber after arch-rivals India and USA, from Group A, advanced to the Super 8 stage.