Former Pakistan cricketer Umar Akmal has accused Babar Azam of never trying to build a bench strength due to his likes and dislikes. His remarks come at a time when the ex-Pakistan captain is under fire for playing for personal records and stats. Ahead of India vs Pakistan clash in Champions Trophy, once again all eyes are on Azam to deliver at the top of the order in the marquee clash.
Babar Azam accused of not trying to build bench strength
Speaking to a Pakistani TV channel, Akmal claimed that Babar never tried to increase Pakistan’s bench strength during his five-year tenure as captain. He claimed that he had asked the ex-captain to give him a fair chance to be a finisher for the good of the team but wasn’t heard at all. Akmal said that only teams with good back up players will win consistently across formats of the game.
“Babar was captain for nearly five years most of the time in all formats and he never tried to build up the bench strength due to his likes and dislikes,” Umar Akmal claimed.
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“He didn’t listen to me and for five years when he was captain he never bothered to try to build a strong bench because only teams with good back up players do consistently well in all formats,” he added.
Babar has recieved severe flak for his slow-paced 64-run knock off 90 deliveries in the 321-run chase against New Zealand in Pakistan’s CT 2025 opener. The former captain is now playing as an opener for the side in the absence of Saim Ayub, a role that he is quite unfamiliar with in ODIs. With Rizwan and co. suffering a defeat against the Kiwis, the India vs Pakistan match is a must-win for the hosts in order to keep their hopes of making it to the knockout stages alive.
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