Pakistan captain Babar Azam is under enormous pressure to save his captaincy career. He recently led Pakistan in two ICC events.
However, he has failed to reach the last 16 of the tournament, let alone win either of them. With Pakistan hosting the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, Babar Azam has another major ICC event to win next year.
Winning the tournament should be his goal to save his captaincy and potentially his cricketing career as well. The fact that Babar bats at a low strike rate across all formats has often been a topic of discussion. With Pakistan struggling to find emerging talented batsmen, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are their main batsmen across formats. The likes of Saim Ayub and Abdulla Shafique are also good. Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood is another batsman who is considered to be the best in the team.
Former national team cricketer Atiq-uz-Zaman has finally revealed the main reason why Pakistan has not won ICC tournaments in recent times. He said that players play for their personal goals and agendas and do not play as a team, which is why Pakistan cricket is in crisis at the moment.
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“Initially people think about their personal goals, their personal agendas and this is what happened. They forget that they are here to play cricket and cricket is not an individual game and even with 11 players, one person playing for himself can hurt the team and that is what is happening to Pakistan,” Zaman said on Twitter.
Watch: Atiq-uz-Zaman’s harsh words on Pakistan cricket
Atiq-uz-Zaman “Even if a person plays for himself, he can hurt the team. This is what is happening to Pakistan.” #Cricket pic.twitter.com/h73Rub0dfx
– Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) July 16, 2024
Meanwhile, several former Pakistan cricketers have already started talking about Babar Azam’s removal as captain. Ahmed Shehzad is one of those who has consistently criticised Babar for playing to earn his place in the team.
Now, former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has also joined the trend. He recently said that Shan Massod will be the perfect replacement for Babar Azam as Pakistan captain across all formats. Butt has overlooked names like Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan and Shadab Khan, who are the senior players in this Pakistan squad.
Meanwhile, Babar also spoke about his captaincy and Pakistan’s performance in the T20 World Cup after their elimination from the tournament. His words came after Pakistan’s consolation win over Ireland in their final Super 8 match. However, losses to the United States and India meant they were already out of the tournament.
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