Pakistan cricket is currently facing lashes and criticism. Babar Azam gave up the captaincy in T20Is and ODIs in between a low phase and a few months away from Champions Trophy 2025. Reflecting on this state of Pakistan cricket, R Ashwin has said that he feels sorry for the players who consider they are skilled.

“I am speaking the truth when I say that the current state of Pakistan cricket and the phase they are going through makes me feel a little sorry. Because some of the most exceptional cricketers have played for Pakistan, and it was such a great team. If you look at it from a cricketer’s perspective, this is a proud cricketing nation. And where are they lacking in skill? They have so many skilled players,” Ashwin said.

Ashwin further went on to speak about how change in captaincy in Pakistan team is like ‘musical chairs’. As one sit on the chair when it is empty in musical chairs, captaincy in Pakistan team is also changing like that, i.e. Babar getting replaced by Shaheen Afridi and them Shan Masood.

“And sometimes, their whole musical chairs situation is truly something. The music keeps playing, and they just think about grabbing a chair; that’s how it feels. In the 2023 World Cup, they lost, and then Babar (Azam) resigned. Then (Shaheen) Afridi was made captain, but Babar was reinstated for limited overs, and Shan Masood was made the Test captain. And look at the situation now – Pakistan hasn’t won a Test match at home. I mean, they haven’t won a Test match for a long time, maybe around 1000 days. It’s been almost 3 years,” he added .