Pakistan are on the brink of group-stage elimination in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Amid the debacle, veteran Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik has asked Babar Azam to relinquish captaincy, suggesting that the leadership responsibility affects his batting.
"I have been saying for a long time, please leave captaincy. You are a class player, and you will only be able to show your class when you do not have additional responsibilities on you. If Babar stays away from captaincy, it will be good for him," Malik said while speaking on Ten Sports.
The 42-year-old questioned Babar’s ability to perform in tough situations and also opined that the core of the Pakistan T20I team should be removed.
"People keep talking about Babar and Rizwan's strike rates, so you brought in Saim Ayub. Yesterday, it was a 120 chase, why were you trying to improve your strike rate yesterday? The platform was set in every manner. If as a leader and a batter, your brain does kick-in, in these sorts of situations, when will it? I am forced to say today that the core of this team, in the T20I format, I think we have to stop backing them," Malik remarked.
Pakistan failed to chase down a small target of 120 against India. None of the Pakistani batters were able to put pressure on the bowlers and were eventually restricted to 113/7 in 20 overs.
The Babar Azam-led side need to win their final two matches by big margins to stay alive in the T20 World Cup 2024.
Pakistan next face Canada in New York in a do-or-die clash on Tuesday (June 11).