On Tuesday, Pakistan were once placed at 27 for 2 in 3.3 overs batting first against two-time World champions England in the Group 1 Super 8 encounter at Pallekele. With former Pakistan captain Babar Azam playing a 24-ball knock of 25 runs and being involved in a 44-ball 46-run partnership for the third wicket with Sahibzada Farhan, it meant that Pakistan were 73 for 2 in 10.5 overs before Azam departed. Pakistan set up a total of 165 for 9 eventually with England then registering a two-wicket win. Former Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad has questioned Azam’s role in T20Is and has shared how the 31-year-old batsman is not a kid having played more than 100 T20Is for Pakistan.
“If we talk about Babar Azam, he is not number four. Why are you taking a personality above Pakistan? Harry Brook also played. He did not break the momentum. You saw his shots. Senior players are like this. Babar has played more than 100 matches. Koi baccha thodi hai. He scored 25 runs in 24 balls. What was this? Were there demons in the pitch? Were there any mystery spinners? There was nothing. The fact that this is not the number of Babar Azam and neither has he any form and neither has he given any impact performances,” Shehzad said on the show Haarna mana hai.
Azam is Pakistan’s highest scorer in T20Is with a tally of 4596 runs in 145 T20I matches with a strike rate of 128.02 and an average of 38.94. The 31-year-old’s strike rate in T20 World Cup matches prior to England was 86.17 in power play, the lowest among the T20I batters who have scored more than 3500 runs. In the four T20 World Cups, Azam had scored 187 runs in 217 balls in power play.
On Tuesday, Azam had scored ten runs in his first six balls before he slowed down. When he was clean bowled by Jamie Overton, Azam had scored 25 runs off 24 balls. His wicket also meant that the third-wicket partnership of 46 runs in 44 balls with Sahibzada Farhan was broken. At the fall of Azam’s wicket, Pakistan were 73 for 2 in 10.5 overs and posted a total of 164 for 9 in 20 overs, which England chased down with two wickets in hand and five balls remaining. Former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir also criticised Azam;s for the slow strike rate and called the third-wicket partnership as the turning moment of the match. “The turning moment was where Babar and Farhan were playing. Babar slowed the momentum. There was a partnership of 46 runs off 45 balls. When you are batting first and want to put a target, you cannot slow the momentum on a good wicket. And they did not have mystery spinners. There was nothing. Bowling was straight. The score then was 160-165. I said earlier also that when you don’t play your big teams, they expose your weak links,” former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir said on the same show.
Azam’s former team-mate and all-rounder Imad Wasim also questioned Azam’s tactics in the match against England. “How many games are you going to mess up like this? After facing 24 balls, if you get out in that fashion… It’s criminal. You are such a senior player. We saw this against India as well. We don’t have any personal agenda against him, but I’m curious what happens in team meetings. Does he raise his hand and accept it?,” Wasim told Geo News.
