Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been going through a tough time in the last month. He was reinstated as the captain of the Pakistan national team ahead of the T20 World Cup. However, his own performance and the team’s performance were not up to the mark at the ICC event.
Following Pakistan’s elimination from the ICC T20 World Cup, PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi said that the team needs “major surgery” but made a U-turn on his comments. He also said that the decision on Babar’s captaincy in the future is yet to be taken.
In one of his recent interactions with local media in Pakistan, the PCB chief said that the national team and the board are now focused on properly organising the ICC Champions Trophy next year. He also expressed high confidence about the Indian team’s likely visit to the country to participate in the tournament.
Meanwhile, India will reportedly play all its matches in Lahore. India will play Pakistan on March 1. Pakistan is scheduled to host the 2025 Champions Trophy from February 19 to March 9 next year. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has already sent an official draft of the tournament schedule to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Also Read: Younis Khan calls for resumption of India-Pakistan bilateral series with strong message for BCCI and PCB
However, the government has not yet announced whether they will allow the Indian team to travel to Pakistan to play in the tournament. According to a report, India is unlikely to travel to Pakistan but the final decision on the team’s travel will be taken by the central government.
Meanwhile, the news of Harbhajan Singh mocking Babar Azam for his comparison with Brian Lara has been doing the rounds in the media. A clip of Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh went viral on social media, where they laughed out loud when asked to choose between Brian Lara and Babar Azam. The clip is said to be from Star Sports’ show Caught & Bold.
Sympathising with Babar Azam, former Pakistani cricketer Kamran Akmal has lent his support to the Pakistani captain saying that Harbhajan himself has apologised for the things he said to the Pakistani captain stating that such things should not have been discussed in the media.
Watch: Kamran Akmal speaks out on Harbhajan Singh’s harassment of Babar Azam
Harbhajan Singh regrets trolling Babar Azam! image.twitter.com/vEVaeLz8rV
– Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) July 7, 2024
Harbhajan Singh and Kamran Akmal have a serious chat in the UK. They are in the UK for the Champions of Legends 2024 trophy. image.twitter.com/IxDMjtnBsr
— Nibraz Ramzan (@nibraz88cricket) July 7, 2024
“Our discussion was about Babar Azam. Babar is undoubtedly Pakistan’s number one batsman at present and has scored the most hundreds for Pakistan in T20I cricket. There is no doubt that Babar and Brian Lara’s classes are not equal and one should never compare the two. But as cricketers, we should not compare them even for fun. This is the discussion we had and he also felt that he should not have said the things he said,” Akmal said in the video posted by a Geo News journalist.
Also Read: Jason Gillespie sets fitness benchmark for Pakistan cricket team, says no compromise on fitness
