Former Pakistan captains Wasim Akram, Moin Khan, Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq slammed Babar Azam’s leadership after team suffered a humiliating eight-wicket defeat against Afghanistan in an ODI World Cup 2023 match, saying that right-handed batter is not good enough for leading the side.
Afghanistan produced their second stunning win of the ongoing World Cup to beat Pakistan for the first time ever in a men’s ODI on Monday in Chennai.
Chasing a target of 283 to win, Afghanistan’s top three all hit half-centuries. Rahmanullah Gurbaz set the tempo early with a 53-ball 65 alongside fellow opener Ibrahim Zadran (87), before the excellent Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi made crucial contributions of 77 not out and 48 not out respectively to lead their side to a historic win.
“From Chairman, selectors, captain, coaches everyone is responsible for this debacle,” said former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram on A Sports.
On the other hand, Shoaib Malik said that Babar is an excellent batter but an ordinary captain.
“The guy who is most responsible is the captain. As a batsman he is King but as a leader he is not,” said Malik.
Meanwhile, former Pakistan wicketkeeper Moin came down heavily on Babar, saying that he hasn’t learnt anything from his past experiences.
“He has been leading the side for the last four years. He has led the team in almost all the big events. Not a single thing he has learnt over the period of time,” said Moin.
“When you need to apply pressure, he is not doing anything. When you need wickets, you don’t see the close in fielders. You need to bring those strategies. We were playing against Afghanistan, he should have attacked by bringing the close in fielders,” he added.
The 57-year-old Akram and former skipper Misbah pointed out the mistakes made by Babar in the bowling changes against Afghanistan.
“Shaheen and Haris had two overs remaining, Hasan had one over left. We gave the bowl to the spinners. Osama went for 11 runs. Shadab conceded ten or twelve runs,” said Wasim.
Misbah highlighted that Haris Rauf seems to be low on confidence and is struggling with his lengths while bowling in the powerplay.
“We can see that whenever Haris Rauf is given the ball to bowl in the powerplay, he is struggling. He is low in confidence, he is leaking 18-20 runs in his first over. We have spoken after the last match against Australia as well, how New Zealand bring Mitchell Santaner in the eighth or the ninth over. It is an attacking option, since it is the last over of the powerplay, batsmen try to take risks. It is a gamble, you can take a wicket as well,” he said.
“It would have been good for Haris’s confidence if the captain would have given the ball after the powerplay, when there are four fielders in the deep. Then he can bowl his bouncers. If he is bowling short of length outside the off stump, he will have a sweeper cover. Now what’s happening is that he is getting hit four boundaries in the first over and he is done for the whole game.
We know that Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran play the pace bowling well. If we could have brought the spinners early and forced them to attack, they could have got in trouble,” concluded Misbah.
