Babar Azam-led Pakistan side has lost its first 2 games in T20 World Cup.
Pakistan white-ball captain Babar Azam has come under criticism since losing to the USA and India in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. While the loss against the USA came in super over, Pakistan’s failure to chase 119 against India on Sunday has proven to be more demoralizing.
Pakistan could only muster 113/7 in 20 overs from needing 48 in the last 48 balls with 8 wickets in hand. Mohammad Rizwan made 31 in 44 balls, while Babar Azam made 13 runs.
Out of favor opener Ahmad Shahzad did not mince his words while targeting Azam, saying that the Pakistan skipper has built the team of his friends and also launched a scathing attack on Azam’s batting performance in key games for the team.
“You have hallucinated people by scoring runs against B, C, and D teams. Your salaries were increased by PCB to evolve your game, but you put their money on social media for image building and nothing else.
Look at your scores in big tournaments, your stats, your average, and your strike rate. What kind of a king Babar Azam … Iss king kya karu jisne match nahi jitwana hai. (What do I do with a King who does not win you matches). There is a stat that your big scores have come it losing causes,” Shahzad said on his YouTube channel.
“You have picked your friends and given them 40 matches to prove their worth and this is hurting Pakistan cricket. You can give 40 matches to this 40-year-old (pointing towards former PAK player Imran Nazir) and he will also give you performances at this age. Look at our domestic performers, they are ignored and they are leaving the country, going to the USA, and UAE to play cricket,” he said.
Babar Azam was reinstated as Pakistan's captain in ODIs and T20Is after a series loss in New Zealand. However, under his captaincy, Pakistan couldn’t defeat a second-string New Zealand side at home in T20Is and also lost to England recently.
Further lambasting Azam on his inability to not build a team despite being the team’s captain for 5 years, Shahzad said, “You are a middle-order batter and a leader and you had five years to build the team; but you have not been able to develop a single middle-order batter, there is no proper allrounder in the team. Aapne kisi ko ban ne nahi diya, aapko sirf thulle chahiye thee, ji aap upar se 15 over khlele, aur fir neeche se aake aaknhe band karke maarte jaae. (You did not develop anyone, you only needed players who hit blindly because you want to bat for 15 overs and then have these players come in and try to hit blindly).”
Here is the video: