Junaid Khan claims that Punjab players are being unfairly blamed for Pakistan's defeat in the 1st Test against Bangladesh. Pakistan lost by 104 runs after collapsing on the final day.
Key points
Junaid Khan claims Punjab players are unfairly blamed
Pakistan lost the 1st Test to Bangladesh by 104 runs
Pakistan collapsed on the final day, losing 10 wickets
Junaid Khan says Pakistan's Punjab players are being unfairly singled out after Bangladesh defeat.
Pakistan collapsed on the final day, losing 10 wickets to fall 104 runs short.
Babar Azam could return for the second Test and potentially reclaim the captaincy.
Junaid Khan calls out regional bias in Pakistan's blame game after Bangladesh defeat
Pakistan's tour of Bangladesh got off to a humiliating start, and former pacer Junaid Khan has waded into the debate of regional bias.
He did not just discuss what went wrong on the field but raised a more uncomfortable question: whether the players being blamed are being targeted because of where they come from, rather than how they actually performed.
Pakistan were beaten by 104 runs in the opening Test, a result that would have been embarrassing at any time but felt particularly stinging given the circumstances. The tourists surrendered all ten remaining wickets on the final day of the match.
For a team of Pakistan's standing, being outplayed in this fashion on the subcontinent raised immediate questions about preparation, attitude, and leadership.
Q&A
What did Junaid Khan say about the blame for Pakistan's Test defeat?
Junaid Khan stated that Punjab players are being unfairly targeted for the blame following Pakistan's defeat to Bangladesh.
How did Pakistan perform in the 1st Test against Bangladesh?
Pakistan collapsed on the final day, losing 10 wickets and falling 104 runs short of Bangladesh's total.
Is Babar Azam expected to return for the second Test?
Yes, Babar Azam could return for the second Test and may reclaim the captaincy.
What was the outcome of the 1st Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh?
Pakistan lost the 1st Test match to Bangladesh by 104 runs.
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Junaid argued that much of the public anger has been aimed at players from the Punjab province, specifically Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Shah Afridi, while others who underperformed have largely escaped scrutiny.
He said: "The entire blame was put on Imam-ul-Haq, who played a good innings in the first innings. He made 45 runs, but he played a good innings. After that, the blame was put on Rizwan, who had scored a 50 in the first innings.
"Apart from him, they put it on Shaheen; I think his pace was down, but he bowled well in this match and took five or six wickets. So if you take five or six wickets on flat pitches, then in my opinion, it's not bad bowling."
Meanwhile, he said, nobody appeared to be asking hard questions of the team's spinner, who bowled multiple no-balls, or of the batting coach, the fielding coach, or the vice-captain Saud Shakeel, who played poor shots in both innings.
"But no one blamed the spinner. No one blamed the coach, not the batting coach, not the fielding coach, asking why we were misfielding, why we didn't field well, or why we didn't bat well. But no one said that the captaincy wasn't good, because you all must have noticed the stark difference between Shanto's captaincy and Shan'sâit was like night and day," he said.
"Or no one asked what the vice-captain Saud was doing. In the first innings, he played a bad sweep shot, and then in the second innings, he completely poked at a ball way outside on the fifth or sixth stump. Shan also did the exact same thing. No one talked about this, no one asked why the spinner was bowling six or seven no-balls. No one is blaming him."
"But everyone is saying, 'drop Rizwan', 'Babar shouldn't play', 'drop Imam', 'bring in Ghauri', 'bring this guy', 'bring that guy'. So, these things have started. From here, our cricket has been completely ruined."
Junaid said that calls to drop Rizwan and Babar while ignoring the struggles of others reflected a provincial mindset that was damaging to Pakistani cricket.
"We should all remember that we are Pakistanis and this is the Pakistan team; it is not the team of any specific city. Yes, if the PSL or domestic cricket is going on, and a person supports their own city or domestic team, then it makes sense. But kindly, this is the Pakistan team, so consider it the Pakistan team and don't treat it like a provincial or city team," he concluded.
The Cricket News Opinion:Â The blame game is older than the defeat
Junaid Khan is raising something real. Regional fault lines in Pakistani cricket are not new, and they have derailed careers and divided fan bases for decades.
Losing to Bangladesh is a serious result that demands honest reflection, but that reflection needs to be applied evenly. Picking on certain names while others go unquestioned is not analysis. It is biased with a cricket scoreboard attached to it.
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