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Ahmed Shehzad who last played an international game for Pakistan in 2019 has reacted to Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel after the Indian raised his concern regarding Pakistan's downfall in recent times.

Following Pakistan's 2-0 Test series loss against Bangladesh at home, R Ashwin took it to his YouTube channel where he talked about the neighbour's lean patch in international cricket in the last few years and how good and tough to beat Pakistan was just some years ago.

Read more: Will Pakistan shift a Test against England to UAE?

What did Ravichandran Ashwin say about Pakistan?

"Keeping all this aside, Pakistan cricket, to see where it is right now, it wasn't possible 10 years ago with Misbah, Younis Khan, even when they used to play in the UAE, back then it was very tough to beat Pakistan," said Ashwin.

Astonishingly, Pakistan has yet to win a Test at home since they last won the series against the touring South Africa in February of 2021, i.e., 1308 days at the time of writing. Following are the home Test series Pakistan has played since their last win.

OpponentSeasonSeries Result (Total Matches)
Australia2021/22Australia won 1-0 (3)
England2022/23England won 3-0 (3)
New Zealand2022/23Draw 0-0 (2)
Bangladesh2024Bangladesh won 2-0 (2)

Pakistan also crashed out of the World Cup in 2023 where they lost to Afghanistan for the first ever time followed by a shocking group stage exit in the T20 World Cup 2024, conceding a super over defeat to the hosts, the USA before also losing to India.

Adding to the already ongoing criticism around Pakistan cricket, the 32-year-old who has featured for Pakistan in 153 internationals has taken a dig at PCB while replying to Ashwin's comments on his channel.

Read More: Will Babar Azam be removed as Pakistan's white ball captain?

What did Ahmed Shehzad say while replying to Ravichandran Ashwin?

On his YouTube channel, Shehzad posted a video where he responded to Ashwin's comment on the state of Pakistan cricket, as he said, "Why are you surprised, Ashwin? Don't worry, everything is fine here. Can't you see that stadiums are being built over here? Continuous digging is being done. Don't be surprised at all.

"Are you not seeing that Pakistan is organizing a cup? Just wait and watch the number of players who come out of this tournament. So what if we couldn't qualify for the Super 8 round of the 2024 T20 World Cup? So what we have groupism in our team? So what if the current players in the team are not performing? It is not a big issue, Ravi. Don't worry."

Recently, Shehzad who has been very open with his criticism towards PCB and the players also refused to play in the upcoming Champions One Day Cup which is the domestic tournament in Pakistan, citing, favouritism, injustice and false promises in Pakistan cricket.

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Author(s)
Mayank Bande Photo

Mayank Bande is a content producer for The Sporting News’ India edition.