Pakistan’s World Cup 2023 campaign has been disappointing in terms of performances so far. After starting the tournament with back-to-back victories over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, the team has suffered heavy defeats at the hands of India and Australia.
Pakistan, who currently sit fifth in the points rankings, are facing Afghanistan in Chennai today, 23rd October, desperate to get back to winning ways . Amid this, Pakistani opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq tried to explain the lack of big hits from the openers and has put the blame on the diet. Notably, Pakistan is the only team in the World Cup yet to hit a six during the first 10 overs of their innings. Explaining the lack of big hits, Imam said that he and his teammates needed to eat protein in order to hit sixes during the game.
Imam Ul Haq said, "we've to eat more protein instead of carbs to start hitting some sixes". pic.twitter.com/SHYpirVUOT
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) October 22, 2023
Ahead of the match with Afghanistan, Imam addressed a press meet and said, “See if you see here all matches are very high scoring. It is not that it is only against our team. If you look at the other teams also, they are scoring 350 – 360, like yesterday there was a score of 400 (between England and South Africa) – so it is not that only our bowlers are being hit.”
Imam defended the players and their poor performances and added, “The grounds here are small, the wickets are good, and when the batsmen are set, the margin for the bowlers is very low.”
“This is not an excuse, but the conditions are such. And it is true that sometimes, there are ups and downs for the bowlers but Shaheen, like in the last match (against Australia), I thought they would score 420 or 430, but our spinners and end bowlers performed very well and controlled them at 360 (367). So, in patches, our bowlers have done very well, and Shaheen did very well. So, these are a few positives and during the day you only look at the positives, we try to ignore the negatives because it is very important – we have back-to-back matches in this tournament. On the day we are bowling well – we have to back this,” Imam-ul-Haq was quoted as saying.
Despite two major setbacks, Imam stated that there is a positive attitude in the Pakistan camp and that they are confident of recovering. Imam stated that the strategy and playing XI alterations for the Afghanistan encounter will be decided by skipper Babar Azam. However, when questioned why the squad didn’t hit any sixes during the powerplay in 2023, the batsman gave his odd response.
“Maybe we want to eat more proteins and not that much carbs, but it is just that this is not something we want to talk about. It is just we really do not feel it if we are not hitting six or not hitting four, it is just that what are we doing for the team? And if we are winning matches – unfortunately last two matches we did not play well and we accept it, but it is just that we still have five matches then we will go to the semi-final but it is just how you play how you prepare and that is really matters,” Imam said.
He really did say this!! Unbelievable
— Hamza (@Hamzakk) October 22, 2023
Journalists asks Imam why Pakistani batsmen haven’t hit any sixes in the opening 10 overs in ODIs in the last year.
His response: maybe we should eat more protein and less carbs.
Awkward humour from a guy who can’t run a 3 on the field. pic.twitter.com/mfHk5Cwj7f
The video of the bizarre comment went viral over the internet with netizens heavily trolling the cricketer for his response. Some said that Pakistani cricketers shouldn’t blame the food for their poor performance while the other users said that they can’t think of anything else given the social and economic condition of Pakistan.
Imam You Dropped This pic.twitter.com/rfhk6QqzTj
— Aufridi Chumtya (@ShuhidAufridi) October 22, 2023
Imam should take cerelac for protein. pic.twitter.com/nG4OVsc1n8
— Ihtisham Ul Haq (@iihtishamm) October 22, 2023
The left-hander, on the other hand, sounded ‘confident’ about facing the Afghanistan spinners on a spin-friendly Chepauk track in Chennai. “In the end, you have to play the ball. You do not have to play the bowler. So, it is just that you have to back your ability,” he said.
Earlier on 4th October, Pakistani cricketer Shadab Khan blamed ‘Hyderabadi Biryani’ for the team’s dismal performance during the warm-up matches ahead of the tournament. When the team arrived in Hyderabad, Shadab revealed that they ate local biryani, which he felt made the players ‘sluggish’ on the pitch.
