Waqar offers to quit after Pakistan´s WT20 exit

Waqar Younis begged for forgiveness after Pakistan’s World Twenty20 exit and offered to walk away as head coach if it will benefit the team’s form.

Pakistan lost three of their four matches at the World T20 in India, the 2009 champions’ only victory coming against Bangladesh in their opening Group Two match.

A six-wicket defeat to India came after they only managed 118-5 from 18 overs in a rain-affected clash, before they failed to chase down totals set by New Zealand and Australia.

The defeat to Australia curtailed their hopes of reaching the semi-finals and marked a failure to progress to the knockout stages for the second succession tournament.

“I place my hands together and beg forgiveness from the nation,” Waqar told reporters outside Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. “If my leaving makes things better, then I would do it without delay.

“I apologise to my nation for our bad performances at the World T20.

“Every one of us will have to wake up, open our eyes and depoliticise cricket in Pakistan.”

He added: “Pakistan cricket is facing numerous problems at present and many of those can’t be spoken about in public.

“If those problems are disclosed in front of the people, it will bring a bad name to Pakistan. It’ll be better to discuss it all in the PCB [Pakistan Cricket Board] boardroom.

“We don’t need stars, we need heroes. We need to dig deep to recognise and find those heroes.”