T20 World Cup 2022: "Didn't even put 50% of the effort" - Saeed Ajmal on Pakistan's shock loss to Zimbabwe

Former spinner Saeed Ajmal has criticized Pakistan's body language during their T20 World Cup loss to Zimbabwe on Thursday, October 27.

Ajmal reckons that Babar Azam and his men paid the prize for taking Zimbabwe too lightly and noticed a massive drop in effort from what they put in against India. He added that their approach wasn't up to the mark of a team that's playing a must-win game.

Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, Saeed Ajmal explained how Pakistan were charged up against India, which wasn't the case on Thursday, and said:

"The way Pakistan played against Zimbabwe, did you really feel they had 3-4 world-class players? Players like Babar, [Mohammad] Rizwan, Shaheen [Afridi] and Haris Rauf are renowned in world cricket.

"But the energy level that the team had against India, did you see anything like that in this game? I feel they didn't even put 50% of the effort that they put in against India."

Saeed Ajmal also spoke about how Pakistan panicked when their openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were dismissed cheaply. While Azam fell for just four off nine balls, Rizwan was out for 14 off 16 balls. On this, Ajmal said:

"When Pakistan's two biggest batters fail, the dressing room starts mourning and gives up. If you give up, this is exactly what will happen. You lost to Zimbabwe."

He added about Shan Masood, who top-scored for Pakistan with a sedate 44 off 38 balls:

"Shan is just not able to clear the big boundaries and our middle-order once again betrayed us. It's just working on ifs and buts from the past two years."

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Saeed Ajmal believes Pakistan played a batter less against Zimbabwe

Saeed Ajmal opined that Pakistan needed Asif Ali in the situation that they were in towards the end of their chase against Zimbabwe. Although Muhammad Wasim Jr. picked up four wickets with the ball, he couldn't fill the void left by Ali with the bat.

Ajmal believes this played a part in Pakistan falling agonizingly short of the target:

"You played a bowler in place of Asif Ali and although he did well with the ball, what could have been had Pakistan had an extra batter in that situation? If we continue to play this way, then no matter how many batters we play, we will continue to lose."

Pakistan will need to hope for many results to go their way if they want to make it into the semifinals. The Men in Green will take on the Netherlands in their next match on October 30.