"Seniors Don't Retire On Time," Slams Former Cricket Captain On Losing World Cup

After Pakistan team's continuous failure at the World Cup 2019, former captain Waqar Younis hit out at senior players in the squad stating that they should be guilty of stretching their careers way after they are past their prime. He has also urged the country's Cricket Board to make no compromises on fitness.

According to PTI news agency, Waqar said in an interview to the Daily Jang newspaper, "till the last moment, our World Cup squad was not final and clear. There is a big problem that senior players try to linger on in their careers and there is no one to tell them it is time for them to retire gracefully."

"For the last so many years, we see the same thing. At the last moment, seniors are brought in as the authorities are scared to lose in a big tournament," he added.

Waqar did not stop there but further lashed out at those who were defending Pakistan's performance in the World Cup, asserting that the team should never have been in such a position.

"The way we struggled to win against Afghanistan in the final over it should not be like that. Our biggest problem is we make compromises in selection on fitness issues, seniority, and other matters. After every World Cup, we see the same script in our cricket with only the characters changed. But this is not the way to move forward we need to assess where we are going wrong," he further said.

Waqar, also spoke about how the fitness of Pakistani players was way below the other competing teams in the tournament. "Every four years we do the same exercise change the captain, sack the coaches and shoot the chief selector and blame the domestic structure but this leads to nowhere and the same mistakes are repeated again," he angrily said in the interview.

Further expressing his interest on becoming team's head coach again, he stated that "there is a new set-up in the PCB and they have new ideas which is good but it is not necessary I can do something good for Pakistan cricket only being the head coach. I can do that in any position. If the PCB offers me something I will definitely think over it," he said.

"...I think criticism should be civilised and not personal and we shouldn't fall below decency standards," he finally said in the interview.