Moin Khan, the father of Azam Khan and former Pakistan captain, has slammed his ex-teammate and former PCB chief Ramiz Raja for demoralizing his son by dropping him for the Men in the Green side in 2021.
Azam Khan's international cricket career has been anything but straightforward since making his debut for Pakistan in July 2021. Despite exhibiting signs of promise, the skilled batter has struggled to make a long-term impression at the top level.
Azam has appeared in 14 T20Is for Pakistan and scored only 88 runs with a best of 30* and a strike rate of 133.33. This is in contrast to his T20 numbers, which stand at 3253 runs in 169 T20Is with a strike rate of 147.32 and one century and 16 fifties.
His disappointing performance in the 2024 T20 World Cup only exacerbated doubts about his form; in the sole match he played, Azam failed to score, was dismissed for a duck, and was eventually dropped from the team.
Azam has also been targeted for his poor fitness and lack of agility while keeping wickets. Despite being considered a promising talent with explosive hitting power, his inability to translate potential into performance has disappointed fans and scouts.
Azam's father Moin Khan has now openly criticized Ramiz Raja, the former PCB chairman, for his son's limited development, citing his contentious omission ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup.
“In the 2022 (2021) World Cup, Azam was also selected for the team, but Ramiz Raja dropped him. At that time, if the chief selector had made a wrong selection, he should have been removed, but they didn't have the courage, and as a result, they demoralized a young player. In this World Cup as well, you can see how he was played,” Moin told Cricket Pakistan.
Azam Khan was dropped from the Pakistan team after scoring a duck against the USA in the 2024 T20 World Cup and Moin Khan felt that it was unfair on the young keeper-batter.
“I watched the entire World Cup and the matches leading up to it, and it seemed like Azam was the number one choice for wicketkeeping and batting. Then suddenly, after just one match, the entire strategy was changed. Azam wasn't given a chance to keep wickets after one match and was dropped after getting out on the very first ball,” said Moin.
Moin, on the other hand, emphasized that Azam must strengthen himself "physically and mentally" in order to continue competing at the greatest level.
“I'm not saying that all the blame lies with the team management and the captain; Azam has his own shortcomings too. He needs to make himself physically and mentally stronger and follow the fitness routines of other sportsmen. For the past month or so, I’ve noticed he’s been working hard to improve his fitness with his trainer Shehzar Mohammad, even taking him along to the Caribbean League,” said Moin.
However, Azam Khan has not been able to score runs in the ongoing CPL 2024, where he has failed to reach double figures in any of his three matches so far.
