NEW DELHI: Former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali launched a no-holds-barred attack on his team over the manner in which Pakistan lost the plot during their T20 World Cup match against the Netherlands.

Pakistan were cruising in their chase of 148 at 90 for 2 at the halfway stage but then lost wickets in a heap, slipping to 114 for 7 in 16.1 overs before scraping through to a nervy three-wicket win and turning what should have been an easy victory into a messy affair.

“Pakistan bach gaya bhai! (Pakistan just about survived). When Shaheen Shah Afridi is called in to bat, you can imagine what Pakistan batting did in that game. Bad batsmanship by the middle order, especially Babar Azam, Nawaz and Shadab Khan. These are experienced players. They have played not just in leagues across the world, but also in the Pakistan Super League. Today, they did not become heroes for Pakistan, they ended up being zeroes,” Basit Ali said on Game Plan.

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Ali went a step further, questioning whether the current line-up has enough genuine match-winners to deliver under pressure.

“Who is a match changer in the Pakistan team? What are you going to say to a country’s fans that get happy when a wicket falls just because it means that Babar Azam will come to bat. But then Babar comes and goes. Today’s star for Pakistan was Faheem Ashraf, who came in at No 8. Baaki batsman chanafali bech rahe the kya?(Were the rest of the batters selling peanuts?)” he added.

All-rounder Faheem Ashraf emerged as the hero for Pakistan, hammering 29 off 11 balls in a stunning late assault to snatch a dramatic three-wicket win.

Needing 29 runs from the last two overs, Ashraf hit three sixes and one four off Logan Van Beek and finished off the match with a four in the final over as Pakistan reached 148 for 7 in 19.3 overs.

Max O’Dowd dropped Ashraf when he was on seven in the second ball of the 19th over and perhaps that cost the match for the Dutch.