Former Pakistan national cricket team player Basit Ali has launched a scathing attack on white-ball captain Babar Azam for his poor performance in the first match of the Test series against the Bangladesh national cricket team.
In the first innings of the match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Babar Azam scored a 2-ball duck and was subjected to intense online harassment.
It is noteworthy that the conditions in Rawalpindi were quite favourable for batting, and the likes of Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel made the most of the opportunities. However, Babar Azam, who is unarguably the most talented among the aforementioned players, failed to live up to the hype.
Meanwhile, when Babar Azam came out to bat in the second innings, he was on the verge of scoring a double in the match but a mistake by Litton Das behind the stumps helped Babar survive.
After being given a lifeline, Pakistan fans cheered and hoped that Babar would take advantage and score a big score. However, he could only bowl a total of 50 balls and score 22 runs before embarking on a long walk back to the pavilion. Pacer Nahid Rana dismissed him on the third ball of the 26th over.
I feel very disappointed because you seem to have forgotten how to bat – Basit Ali
Basit Ali, one of the admirers of Pakistan’s white-ball captain, criticised Babar for his failure against Bangladesh. He expressed his disappointment over Babar’s performance and said that the 29-year-old had forgotten how to bat.
Basit Ali also took a jibe at the 29-year-old, saying he acts like he is Pakistan’s Don Bradman and further criticised him for the way he came out.
“I feel very disappointed because it seems like you have forgotten how to bat, or the Bangladesh bowlers have done magic on you, or it is the pitch that has done the trick. Aap log toh bade bade Bradman ho na (You are all supposed to be big Bradmans, aren’t you?). ICC number one Babar Azam. He recovered when a ball fell to him, but then Nahid Rana chased Babar with his pace. When he got out, it seemed like he didn’t even expect the ball to come back like that.”
Babar Azam’s overall numbers are excellent in Test cricket as he has scored 3920 runs in 53 matches at an average of 45.95, along with 9 centuries and 26 fifties. However, Babar Azam’s recent poor performances have drawn strong criticism from all quarters.
Talking about the first Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh, the home team faced a 10-wicket drubbing after giving a target of 30 runs to Bangladesh for the fourth innings.
It was a complete failure of Pakistan’s batting in their second innings as they were bowled out for just 146 runs and struggled against the Bangladesh bowlers.
Moreover, this was Pakistan’s first defeat against Bangladesh in the history of Test cricket as they had won all the previous 12 matches with one of them ending in a draw.