Former India cricketer R Ashwin tore into Pakistan batter Babar Azam’s poor and slow knock in his team’s 60-run loss to New Zealand in the opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Karachi on February 19.
Several fans and analysts have chastised Babar Azam for batting at a strike rate of 71.11 while Pakistan was chasing 321 in Karachi. Babar Azam played 90 balls for his 64-run knock, hitting 6 fours and 1 six. He played a total of 52 dot balls, as Pakistan made 22/2 in the first 10 overs of powerplay.
Ravichandran Ashwin, the former India spinner, has now criticized the right-hander, questioning where the "intent" was.
Speaking on his YouTube channel 'Ash Ki Baat,' Ashwin claimed Babar has all the potential in the world, but he still doesn't understand the right-hander's mind process behind playing such a knock when the likes of Salman Ali Agha and Khushdil Shah went hell for leather.
“I’m a big fan of Babar Azam. Sometimes, as cricketers, when we want to safeguard our reputation, it becomes a problem. Reputation is not ahead of the team. Babar's knock was very difficult to watch.
Intent kahan tha. Ghar pe rakh ke aaya tha kya? (Where was the intent? Did you keep it at your home? I actually feel that, coming into the match, Babar Azam didn’t create shot options for himself. He doesn’t have any shots, and there’s no shot for square of the wicket, no sweep, no reverse sweep, bottom hand is closed. There are no shots in his armory. Such innings weren’t even played in the 1990s,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin didn't mince words as he ripped into Babar's mind process while on the chase. Ashwin also stated that Fakhar Zaman, despite having a damaged muscle, was prepared to take more risks than Babar Azam, who was totally healthy.
“What did they play yesterday? In the first 10 overs, they scored 20 runs without any shame. Salman Ali Agha, what a batting display! Tayyab Tahir, too, is aggressive, giving them a good platform to play. Babar is charging down the ground to defend the ball, he’s just playing dot ball everywhere. For this, he could have just gotten out.
What makes me sad is that I agree he’s out of form. He wants to return to form. But there are only three matches in CT. Even if one is gone, you are almost knocked out. It was the same Pakistan that chased 350 recently. How can you score just 20 runs in the first powerplay? It wasn’t powerplay, it was poor play," he added.
“Later on, Michael Bracewell is bowling, Glenn Phillips is bowling, and even Fakhar Zaman is trying to hit six, but our man [Babar] is just charging to score nothing. At least in anger, he could have hit something. After he got to 50, he scored a six. I'm flabbergasted when you have such a good game and play with this intent. I couldn’t watch the match; it was bad," said Ashwin.
Pakistan will now have to win both their remaining matches in the Champions Trophy. They will face India on February 23 in Dubai and then clash with Bangladesh on February 27 in Rawalpindi.
