Salman Butt slams Pakistan over humiliating loss to England, says 'Fan base has gone down'

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has said that the country's national cricket team will start losing more fans if it continues to perform poorly. Butt, speaking on his official YouTube channel, stated that the Pakistan team's fan base is already lower than before and that if the Babar Azam-led side continues to disappoint with their performances, PCB would lose even more fans. Butt was speaking after Pakistan's humiliating defeat against a third-string England side on Thursday.

"How do you make fans? You make fans by winning matches. If you don't win more than you lose then you won't have any fans because everyone likes seeing their team as world-beaters. If you look at the current fan base of the Pakistan cricket team, it has gone down drastically. The star value of players is also not so high compared to what was before. Yes, players such as Babar Azam do enjoy a huge fan following, but that is because of his individual performance. Players must accept they didn't play well and take responsibility for the loss," Butt said in his YouTube video. 

England vs Pakistan 1st ODI

Pakistan lost the first of three ODIs against a new-look England side by 9 wickets. England's newly-capped bowler Saqib Mahmood proved lethal against world-class Pakistani batsmen as he provided an early breakthrough by picking up two wickets in the first over of the game. After Babar Azam's dismissal, the Pakistani batting lineup collapsed for just 141 runs on the board. England needed 142 runs to win, which Zak Crawley and Dawid Malan chased down with ease in just 21 overs. 

What made the loss humiliating is that the new England team was assembled a day before the match and lacked experienced players. The England Cricket Board (ECB) was forced to make the last-minute change as seven members of the old ODI squad returned positive COVID-19 results. The entire team was immediately put under isolation keeping in mind the safety of all stakeholders. England announced a new squad and named Ben Stokes the captain for the Pakistan series. 

(Image Credit: AP)