Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has opined that the burden of captaincy has not affected his batting at the Cricket World Cup and is not losing sleep over whether he will keep the job after the mega event. Ahead of their match against England, Babar Azam spoke to the media as he opened up about his team’s blueprint for the crucial encounter.
Notably, Babar Azam and Co. need to win their final league game against England. Not only that, the Men in Green need to win by a 287-run or more margin to surpass New Zealand’s net run-rate to make it to the knockout stage.
It is easy to give advice on TV: Babar Azam
“I have been captaining my team for the last three years and I have never felt pressure. I have not performed the way I should have in the World Cup, that’s why people are saying that I am under pressure”, Babar Azam said in the press conference.
“Over the last two and half or three years I was the one who was performing for the side and leading the team. It seems everyone has an opinion on me – he should be like this, or like that. If someone really wants to advise me, I think everyone has my number. But I guess it is easy to give advice on TV,” added the PAK skipper.
It must be noted that Pakistan has so far won four out of their eight matches. Babar Azam and Co. have been under immense pressure and have been scrutinized by former cricketers regarding their poor performance in the show-piece event. Earlier, former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram had lashed out at Babar’s poor captaincy in the World Cup.
“At the 45-over mark, we had two overs of Shaheen and Haris each and one over of Hasan Ali but we gave the ball to Usama Mir, why? Who will answer these questions?”
Apart from Wasim Akram, the likes of Shoaib Akhtar Mohammad Amir and even Mishbah ul Haq also criticized the Pakistani captain after their poor run in the World Cup.