4 min readFeb 25, 2026 02:27 PM IST
With his knock of seven runs against England in Pakistan’s two-wicket loss against England in the Super 8 encounter at Pallekele in the T20 World Cup on Tuesday, Pakistani opener Saim Ayub once again failed to get past a score of 30 runs in this T20 World Cup. The 23-year-old opener currently has a tally of 70 at an average of 14.00 in the event so far and the opener fell trying to a play a pull shot off the bowling of England pacer Jofra Archer on Tuesday. Former Pakistani player Basit Ali took a jibe at Ayub after his latest failure, branding the opener a ‘laadla’ (favourite) of the management.
His dismissal against England meant that the 23-year-old opener fell on a single digit score for the 15th time in the last one year in T20Is.
Basit Ali’s jibe came after Shoaib Malik spoke about Ayub getting pout to a 145kph ball bowled by Jofra Archer in the third over of Pakistan’s innings. Ali claimed that Ayub does not have the belief in himself and branded him team management’s favourite.
“If there is a belief on your abilities… But that’s not the case. He (Saim Ayub) does not even has the belief that he is hitting a particular shot and whether it will happen in a proper way or not. One has to analyse how much pace of the opponent bowler, how much height and how much is the ball bouncing. You are getting out while trying to pull against such a delivery. What more I can say. Sabke laadle hain, masla toh yeh hai. Jo bhi captain banta hai, uske laadle ban jate hain (He is favourite of all. That’s the matter in his case. Whoever becomes the captain, he becomes favourite of that captain,” Basit Ali said on ARY News.
During the Pakistan’s opening match against Netherlands, Ayub fell to the off-spin of Aryan Dutt as he tried to play a no-look drive against the bowler and was caught at mid-on by Roelof van der Merwe. Against the USA, Ayub fell while trying to launch a wide cutter ball by Shadley van Schalkwyk over cover before edging the ball and being caught by Saurabh Netravalkar at short third man. This was followed by Ayub falling LBW against Jasprit Bumrah in the much-anticipated match against India at Colombo before he fell trying to hit an to an angled delivery by Jack Brassell giving catch to the wicket-keeper in the match against Namibia.
On Tuesday, Ayub lasted for seven balls and fell to Jofra Archer’s short ball by giving a simple catch to Jacob Bethell at backward square leg following a pull shot.
ALSO READ | ‘Failure to utilize talent’: Why Pakistan’s loss to England has ex-players slamming Salman Ali Agha’s tactics
Story continues below this ad
Former Pakistan wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal too criticised the opener and shared how enough chances have been given to player like Ayub. “If the bowler bowls balls of pace close of 145kph and is of good height as well bounce the ball well, you cannot play like that. One has to utilise the pace of such a bowler and hit cricketing shots against such deliveries. You have played 60-65 matches and there have been a lot of chances given to you. You are very lucky. And yet you don’t perform. You are playing like a favourite of the team,” said Akmal on the same show.
ALSO READ | Can Pakistan qualify for the T20 World Cup semifinals after their loss to England? Explaining the scenarios
Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik criticised the Pakistan team management and shared how the current Pakistan team management shows faith only on 3-4 players. “Apka taken sir 3-4 players par hai (Your faith is only on 3-4 players. And they read the situation and operate according to that. If the situation is easy, these 3-4 players will operate. If the situation is tough, then players who are not your favourite will operate,” said Malik.
