Pakistan's loss against Zimbabwe by 1 run in the T20 World Cup has brought some harsh reactions from former cricketers to the surface and the criticism of the Babar Azam-led side is rising by the minute. Former players such as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik have been quite vocal on how the side were under prepared for the T20 World Cup in Australia. Malik has now said that if the players don't even know that the ball is not dead when it hits the stumps on a free-hit, then talking about conditions is secondary.
Analysing the Pakistan-Zimbabwe game on Pakistan channel A Sports, Misbah started off by saying that the side should have been prepared as per the conditions they will get in Australia. It was then, that Malik chipped in to highlight the dead-ball controversy during the India-Pakistan game.
"They don't know that the ball is not dead when it hits the stumps on a free hit, so leave other things aside. They don't even know this, so talking about which conditions you have to play in, is another matter. We just try to find short-term solutions," said Malik.
"If there is a leakage in pipe, the permanent solution is to change the pipe. But we try to bridge the gap. You need to change the pipe," he added.
The three byes that India got on the free-hit after Virat Kohli was bowled in the final over against Pakistan were in accordance with the ICC rules, yet the Pakistan team was found arguing with the umpires.
Many suggested that it should've been called a dead ball since the ball went on to shatter the stumps of the batter (Virat Kohli), but that isn't what the rulebook says.
The no-ball and subsequent free-hit played a big role in India's triumph over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup.