Pakistan fast bowling icons Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis slammed Babar Azam after the Green Army suffered a second defeat in the ICC World T20 2022 edition. Babar-led Pakistan suffered a shock defeat to arch-rivals Zimbabwe in the second Super 12 match on Thursday.
Wasim and Waqar, two of the best bowlers in the history of Pakistan cricket, attacked Pakistan skipper Babar after Zimbabwe beat the former world champions by one run at the Perth Stadium. Former Pakistan skippers were quick to question the captaincy credentials of Babar, who struggled for form in the T20 World Cup in Australia.
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“The easiest place to bat in T20 is opening up. For the past two years, you haven’t let anyone open. I have already discussed this with Misbah, why don’t you try something new? You tried it with bowling but with batting we tried all the experiments in average order. But the openers remained intact and they bowled 14-15 overs together,” Younis shared his view on Pakistan’s sporting show – Pavilion.
Younis’ former teammate Akram echoed the same sentiment, and the former Pakistan pacer even took a dig at Babar for not making sacrifices for his team. “It all starts from the top. And up there is your captain. If your captain plays for himself and lacks confidence. If your captain is scoring runs and allowing other batsmen to play in his place, you know your captain is ready to sacrifice himself for you, which Babar must learn from,” said Akram.
An integral part of Pakistan’s World Cup-winning squad in 1992, Akram also recalled working with Babar as a coach at Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Akram said he had advised Babar to bat at the No.3 position, but ultimately the Pakistan all-format captain turned down his request.
“I experienced it with Babar, Karachi Kings, yes. We’ve had a couple of bad spells in the team and I’ve been begging him a couple of times, please come on number 3 and we’ll see something else. Let (Martin) Guptill see that he is the opener and hit the top. And he (Babar) said I will not get off, you ask Sharjeel to bat at 3, he (Sharjeel) is also a natural opener. The team also feels these little things that the captain does,” Wasim added.