Babar Azam has faced significant pressure since the 2023 ODI World Cup, where he lost his captaincy of the Pakistan cricket team due to struggles with his performance in international cricket. However, during the current Pakistan Super League (PSL) season playing for Peshawar Zalmi, he bounced back with two consecutive half-centuries. In a match against Multan Sultans, he scored 31 runs.
Kalesh b/w Babar Azam And One of guy from Crowd over he was Calling him “Zimbabar” during PSL match
pic.twitter.com/mtR99WDmoW— Ghar Ke Kalesh (@gharkekalesh) February 24, 2024
In a recently surfaced video reportedly from that match, a group of fans can be heard mocking Babar Azam, calling him ‘Zim Babar’. Babar responded by glaring back at them and even appearing to consider throwing a bottle of water.
Former Pakistan cricket director Muhammad Hafeez recently alleged that Babar Azam, along with foreign coaches Mickey Arthur and Grant Bradburn, had prioritized team fitness poorly leading up to the ODI World Cup in India. Under Babar’s captaincy, Pakistan’s performance in the World Cup was disappointing, failing to reach the semifinals and finishing fifth after losing five out of nine league games. Hafeez’s contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was not renewed following unsuccessful tours of Australia and New Zealand.
Hafeez On Babar Azam
Hafeez was appointed team director late in 2023 after Pakistan’s poor showing in the World Cup. Under his tenure, Pakistan suffered whitewashes in a three-Test series in Australia and a 4-1 defeat in a five-match T20I series against New Zealand.
“When I took over as director (in 2023) and we reached Australia, I told the team trainer to give me a report on the players’ fitness standards and prepare a new fitness regimen,” said Hafeez.
“He told me that the former captain (Babar) and head coach (Arthur) had told him six months ago that fitness is not the priority at the moment and let the players play as they wanted,” Hafeez revealed on the ARY sports channel.
“This was shocking news for me when he (team trainer) told me that he was told to not check the players fitness,” added Hafeez.
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