Pakistan’s ICC World Cup 2023 campaign is finally on track after four back-to-back losses, as they posted a convincing seven-wicket win over Bangladesh a few days ago. With that, they are still alive in the race to the semis, but questions still remain, with regard to skipper Babar Azam’s form and his leadership during the tournament.
In the seven matches Babar Azam has played, he has scored three fifties, and his strike rate has been way below 100. These 50+ scores came against India, Afghanistan, and South Africa, and Pakistan lost all these matches. In the encounters in which Babar failed, Pakistan posted convincing wins. This does present a picture. Maybe, when Babar scores for the team, he takes up way too many deliveries, which puts pressure on the other batsman.
Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi, came down severely on the current captain, for the same reason. While talking to SAMAA TV, Shahid Afridi said, “It’s one thing to score runs and another to win matches from those scores. Look at what Virat Kohli and KL Rahul do. They score their runs, play their share of balls as well, and take India to wins too.”
Shahid Afridi criticised Babar’s style of play even further and said that the latter doesn’t instill the confidence, that he is going to win matches for Pakistan. “Babar doesn’t give a feeling that he is going to win us matches, we know he is going to score 50-60 for us, and that is it.”
Pakistan just has two matches left in World Cup 2023, and they need to win both of them, in order to be in contention to qualify for the semis.
