Islamabad, May 8 (IANS): Former captain Zaheer Abbas said defending champions Pakistan have a bleak chance of making the semi-finals of the World Twenty20.

Pakistan's performance has been below par in this edition. They lost their opening match of Super Eights by six wickets to England and now need to win their match against South Africa and New Zealand to stay alive in the tournament.

Abbas said he was shocked to see the players missing five catches and wasting one run out chance against England.

"I am very dejected the way Pakistan have played against Australia and England in the last two games. They have performed poorly in all the three areas - batting, bowling and fielding," he was quoted as saying in The Post here.

Abbas was also unhappy with Shahid Afridi's captaincy.

"Afridi has failed miserably to inspire the team in any match. His poor captaincy and ridiculous display of fielding by some of the players cost dearly to the team," he said.

Abbas said Pakistan have failed to learn from their mistakes in the disastrous Australian tour that led Pakistan Cricket Board to impose fines and bans on a lot of players.

"The players should have learnt from their mistakes against Australia, but the fixture against England has proved that they are in the habit of repeating the past."