Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar criticised star batter Babar Azam for his slow and conservative knock against New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy opener, saying that the batter has “no intention to improve”. Babar’s sluggish approach in ODIs made headlines as he made a 90-ball 64 against NZ while chasing 321 in the Champions Trophy opener. His strike rate was extremely underwhelming at 71.11, leaving Pakistan 60 runs short of a win and their net run rate slipped to -1.20. Their next match against arch-rivals India on Sunday has become a virtual knockout.
Speaking in the post-match analysis show ‘Game On Hai’ as quoted by Wisden, Shoaib said, “Babar Azam has become the product he had to become; it is visible; what can I debate about it?. You saw it (against New Zealand). There is no intention to improve.”
“You cannot run a team by acting like Maula Jatt (violent Pakistani fictional character) – ‘Bring this, do this, do that’ etc. You’re not playing T20. You can play T20 cricket with T20 skills, but in longer formats you need awareness, intelligence and method as well. How do you create this package?”
“They used to teach us way back in the 80s and 90s in club cricket how to play run-a-ball. Even us tailenders knew that we have to play run-a-ball,” he concluded.
Babar’s knock of 64 in 90 balls, was his fifth-slowest 50-plus score in ODIs, with his slowest being an 86-ball fifty against NZ back in 2023. While Babar was no doubt at fault, he did not get much support from top order, who also played extremely conservative cricket, with Saud Shakeel (6 off 19), Mohammad Rizwan (3 off 14), and Fakhar Zaman (24 off 41) failing to fire. In the middle order, Salman Agha (42 in 28 balls, with six fours and a six) and Khusdil Shah (69 in 49 balls, with 10 fours and a six) did come good, but it was not enough as Pakistan was bundled out for 260 in 47.2 overs.
In contrast, Kiwis had well-made centuries from Will Young (107 in 113 balls, with 12 fours and a six) and Tom Latham (118 in 104 balls, with 10 fours and three sixes) and an explosive 61 in 39 balls by Glenn Phillips, which had three fours and four sixes.
In his last 10 ODIs, Babar has scored 354 runs in 10 innings at an average of 44.25, with a strike rate of over 76 and three fifties, with best score of 73. He has not scored an international ton since his century against Nepal in August 2023 during the Asia Cup.
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