'The ones in Pakistan team are worst, the ones not, are best...': Shadab Khan says ‘everyone will talk when you lose’

Life has not been easy for the Pakistan cricket team in the last couple of weeks. After getting off to a promising start with two wins in a row, the Babar Azam-led side has suffered a hat-trick of losses. With only four matches remaining, they now face a do-or-die situation. Naturally, there has been some harsh criticism coming their way from various quarters but none more pinching than the words from the former Pakistan cricketers. The likes of Wasim Akram, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Yousuf, Mohammad Hafeez, and Danish Kaneria have made no effort whatsoever to hide their disappointment and to a certain extent, anger.

Coming to think of it, this is not the first time Pakistan are facing such a scenario in a World Cup. Their situation was much the same in the last edition and they did make a comeback only to miss out on a semi-finals berth by a whisker - New Zealand qualified because of a higher net run rate. Even in the last edition of the T20 World Cup in Australia, Pakistan were about to be knocked out from the Super 12 stage but a stunning victory by Netherlands over South Africa took them to the semis where they beat to reach the finals.

Historically, Pakistan have always performed well when their backs are against the wall. Their only triumph in the ODI World Cup came in similar circumstances when an Imran Khan-led side recovered from a poor start to go on and win the tournament.

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Can this team do the same? The former cricketers don't think so as many have gone on to state that they lack belief and the fighting spirit. Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan doesn't agree.

‘Don’t think fight is missing; criticism will come when you don't win'

"No, I don't think so the fight is missing. It's everyone and their opinion. And everyone can talk about that. But as a team, we have one thing that we have unity. We are playing like that. So, we have that unity and we were playing like that and we always bounce back and hopefully we will bounce back again but everyone has their opinion they can talk about us because we're not performing so we have to accept it and this is a reality because when you don't perform, when you don't win everyone has their opinion they can talk, they can criticize So our main focus is just try to win game for Pakistan, that's it," Shadab told reporters on the eve of Pakistan's all-important match against South Africa.

But doesn't the job become even more difficult with the constant scrutiny and stringent criticism? Shadab says, there is an easy way to tackle it - just don't pay attention.

"Yeah, it's easy if you don't listen to them. So, it's easy because I always talk to the players – because if you came on this type of a tournament you have to cut it off from the social media because when you perform you know that everyone will talk - like he's doing so well, he's doing this but when you don't perform definitely the same person will talk about that - oh he's not good enough. Because the mentality is that when someone is not in the team, they are the best. When someone is in the team, they are the worst. It's like that.

"But reality is - you have to win. You have to win. Because if you are winning, everything will cover up. And if you are losing, it doesn't matter how good you are, how your team is playing before. So main concern is – if you are winning, everything will cover it," Shadab added.

The experienced all-rounder hasn't been in the best of forms himself. He, in fact, lost his place in the side to young leg-spinner Osama Mir but Shadab is ready to turn it around. "The criticism is valid because I haven't been performing well recently. So, it's valid. I'm not performing well in such a big tournament, but it's not like I'm always the same. There is always ups and downs in cricket."