“I know New Zealand is a beautiful country”- Danish Kaneria taunts Pakistan’s middle order over poor show in T20I tri-series

Danish Kaneria has slammed Pakistan’s middle order over their disappointing performance in the ongoing T20I tri-series in New Zealand. Taunting the batters, he said that apart from a few players, all the others seem to have gone to New Zealand to have some fun.

With Bangladesh being knocked out, Pakistan will take on the Kiwis in the final of the tri-series at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Friday, October 14. Babar Azam’s men defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in match number six on Thursday. However, they needed 19.5 overs to chase 174, despite having wickets in hand.

Babar and Mohammad Rizwan scored half-centuries to guide Pakistan’s chase. Speaking ahead of the final, though, Kaneria raised questions over the team’s fragile middle order.

Lashing out at the non-performing batters, he commented:

“Apart from Babar, Rizwan, Shadab (Khan) and (Mohammad) Nawaz, why have the others gone to New Zealand? I know New Zealand is a beautiful country; Christchurch is a really nice place. Have the other players gone there just to enjoy themselves?

"Today (Thursday), Shan (Masood) was demoted and Haider Ali was sent up the order. What feat did he (Ali) accomplish?."

Sent into bat at No. 3, Ali failed to grab his opportunity and was bowled by Hasan Mahmud for a second-ball duck. Mohammad Nawaz then came in and smashed an unbeaten 45 off 20 balls, hitting five fours and a six, to ensure victory for Pakistan.

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“All of them are playing absolutely rubbish cricket” - Danish Kaneria on Pakistan’s middle-order batters

Coming down hard on the likes of Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil, and Masood, Kaneria described their style of batting as “outdated” and “absolutely rubbish”.

Continuing his attack on Pakistan’s batting outfit, he alleged that some players only want to butter up the coaches to secure their places.

The former leg-spinner said:

“Be it Haider, Iftikhar, Khushdil or Shan, everyone is playing an outdated style of cricket. All of them are playing absolutely rubbish cricket. If Babar, Rizwan and Nawaz score, Pakistan win. Today also, there was a 100 partnership between the openers and Nawaz also scored runs.

"For others, it just seems to be about being in the good books of the coaches. When it comes to performance, it is zero."

Babar and Rizwan are Pakistan’s leading run-getters in the tri-series with 177 and 167 runs, respectively, from four innings. Masood has 45 runs from three innings, while Iftikhar has 40 from two.