Asked after the loss to India whether the team had put themselves under too much pressure, Kirsten agreed.

"You are pretty much spot-on," he said. "These guys are all international players and they're aware that when they're not performing at their best that there's going to be pressure put on them. That's understandable, but a lot of these guys have played a lot of T20 cricket around the world over many, many years and it's really up to them to decide how they're going to take their games forward."

The scrutiny will fall on the captain Babar Azam and his opening partner Mohammad Rizwan, each of whom have top-scored in the two games but with innings that divided opinion for their strike rate and notable lack of intent. Their approach has been consistent through the three campaigns and though Pakistan experimented with the opening partnership in the run-up to the event, Kirsten said there was "concern around how we can put our innings together and structure it".

Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf have also been part of both previous campaigns and though the bowling has mostly held up its end of the bargain - and came in for praise from Kirsten yesterday - the decline in Shadab's legspin has hurt Pakistan.

Kirsten acknowledged that he still needed time to take better stock of the situation but was clear that players needed to evolve as the format did.

"As I said, I've only been here a handful of days. I'm having a look into the environment and looking at what the issues are. I look at these players, I've watched them play many, many years on TV and kind of getting to know them, they're fantastic guys. They're playing for their country, so they really are pumped. I mean, there's a lot of very disappointed guys in the change room now.

"I think for me the most important thing for every international player is that you continue growing and developing as a player, and understanding what the demands of international competition are. The game is changing pretty much every year. So, if you're not up to it and you're not improving, you're going to get found out somewhere."

"Enough is enough. We need changes now. Bring in a new team, six to seven players and then back them through losses so they can develop as a team. It's time for the PCB chairman to take a bold step. We keep hearing [of the team] that this guy isn't talking to that guy, or that guy isn't talking to him. This was the best New York pitch so far, it wasn't that difficult. How difficult was it to chase 120?

"After this performance I don't think Pakistan deserve to go into the Super 8s."

"I think now is the time for Gary Kirsten and Babar Azam to make some changes. I would like to see Salman Ali Agha [he is not part of the T20 World Cup squad] come into the side in place of Usman Khan and Abrar Ahmed to come in for Shadab Khan.

"Most of all, I believe Fakhar Zaman should be promoted to open the innings alongside Mohammad Rizwan, with Babar dropping down to number three.

"There are some tough conversations and choices to come but we need to remember that there is still hope: Pakistan are not out of the tournament yet."