WATCH : Pakistan vice-captain Shadab Khan speaks about team’s mediocre performance in ODI World Cup 2023

All-rounder Shadab Khan said on Thursday that his underachieving colleagues still think “miracles can happen”. He said this ahead of their fight to save their dismal World Cup campaign. The 1992 winners had a great start, defeating both the Netherlands as well as Sri Lanka. But then suffered heavy losses to Australia and India, and finally, they were humiliated by their neighbours, Afghanistan.

The Pakistan spin all-rounder said that, “We have under-performed in all three departments — batting, bowling and fielding. We have not played good cricket but have bounced back from such situations.”

They will put their resources to the test once more on Friday when they play the prolific South Africa. The African nation have won four of their last five matches and have forgotten their shocking defeat to the Netherlands.

The Pakistan vice-captain added that, “If you have belief, miracles happen. We have not played like we were playing before the World Cup but from tomorrow we have to start a winning streak. When you are in a do-or-die position then I think the pressure is less because you have nothing to lose.”

Of the Pakistani team, Shadab is only one of several who hasn’t fired up to par. In his three appearances, the 25-year-old leg-spinner picked up two wickets at a 90.00 average and scored 74 runs. Before being called up to play Afghanistan, he was benched for the match against Australia.

Shadab Khan said, “When someone isn’t in the team they’re the best, when someone is in the team they’re the worst. Reality is you have to win, if you win everything gets covered but when you lose, it doesn’t matter how good you’re or how well you did in the past.”

“You have to cut off from the social media” : Shadab Khan

Shadab maintains that they have moved over their shocking eight-wicket loss to Afghanistan.  He maintains that victory will ideally allay the criticism that has been building ever since they lost their eighth World Cup match against India in a row.

The leg-spinner concluded his statement in the pre-match press conference saying that, “I always tell the players that if you are going to a tournament like this, you have to cut off from the social media.”