Former Pakistan Wicket-batsman Rashid Latif has supported wicketkeeper-batsman Azam Khan, who is part of the T20 WC team.
The Pakistani team, led by Babar Azam, will begin its ICC T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against the co-hosts, the United States, later tonight. Grand Prairie Stadium will host the third Group A match that promises to end later today. It will be interesting to see the choice of Pakistan’s wicketkeeper batsman to see who they will back – Azam Khan or Mohammad Rizwan.
Before arriving in the United States for the T20 World Cup, Pakistan had lost a 4-match T20I series in England 2-0 in which Azam Khan featured as wicketkeeper. His performance behind the stumps was questionable, but what was also tested was his ability to score runs.
Of his 13 T20 internationals, the right-hander is yet to play a notable innings and it remains to be seen if he gets the nod for the World Cup. Mohammad Rizwan is undoubtedly the most experienced behind the stumps and with the bat, but it will be interesting to see if Azam Khan has the backing of the management.
Rashid Latif says he feels bad about Azam Khan trolling
During the fourth T20I of England’s tour, Azam Khan became the subject of huge criticism due to the way he had lost his wicket to pacer Mark Wood. Anyway, Azam was fighting Adil Rashid and Wood made things worse.
After a series of good length deliveries, Mark Wood bowled a fierce bounce to Azam Khan which fooled the latter. So much so that Azam’s eyes closed when the ball came to him. The ball deflected heavily off his gloves before hitting his shoulders and landing safely in the gloves of Jos Buttler.
It was obvious that on social media people would make fun of his dismissal and that’s what happened. Some mocked his size while others questioned the credibility of him becoming a national team player.
Amid criticism against him, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif came to his support. Latif admitted that Azam does not deserve to be shamed and trolled on social media.
“He is under immense pressure. He is body-shamed, he is trolled. Azam is an exceptional batsman in T20. He is a clean batsman, he plays well with the spinners, he has worked on his game against the pacers. I feel bad for the Guy “He’s only 25 years old. He doesn’t deserve to be trolled like that.” – Rashid Latif told the Indian Express.
Can the United States upset Pakistan?
Every time the T20 World Cup approaches, there is also talk of surprises in the tournament. In the last edition we had seen a couple and this time too, some hold up. A surprise can only happen tonight if the United States show the same performance as they did against Bangladesh in a recent T20I series and against Canada in the first match of the T20 World Cup on June 2.
In 2022, Pakistan was defeated by Zimbabwe by just 1 run. Can the United States do the same? Time will tell.