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Babar Azam is going through a rough patch with the bat with the Pakistan captain scoring only 14 runs in his side's four games in the T20 World Cup. However, more than his batting, it is his captaincy that has been heavily criticized, especially by former Pakistan cricketers. Surprisingly, one man has now come in his support and he's none other than Mohammad Hafeez.
The former Pakistan skipper has been one of the fiercest critics of Babar Azam and has even urged him to step down as captain after the T20 World Cup. But Mohammad Hafeez has now made a massive U-turn on his earlier criticism of Babar Azam.
“He never led a side in domestic cricket for that long. He has been given this role and has been trying his level best. All he needs is support and the team management should provide that to him. It is easy to sit outside and criticise player. Babar is a fantastic player and people actually want to see him play,” Mohammad Hafeez said on Saturday.
Mohammad Hafeez's change of heart regarding Babar Azam's captaincy came just a week after he made his viral “sacred cow' against him.
“Babar Azam's captaincy is like a sacred cow that cannot be criticised. It's the third consecutive big game that we are seeing flaws in Babar captaincy, but we keep hearing that by the time he gets to the age of 32 he will learn. In today's match, from the 7th over till the 11th over, when India were struggling for even 4 runs an over, why did Babar not fulfil the spin quota overs in that time frame,” Mohammad Hafeez said.
Babar Azam's underwhelming performances with the bat and his poor selection calls have been criticized by many former cricketers, including Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Gautam Gambhir, and Sunil Gavaskar.
India's two-time World winner Gautam Gambhir tore into Babar Azam, calling him out for his below-par captaincy in the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia.
Alleging Babar Azam was a “selfish” cricketer, Gautam Gambhir said the Pakistan captain always thought about himself and not about the team.
“In my opinion, first, you think about your team instead of yourself; if nothing goes according to your plan, you should have sent Fakhar Zaman up the batting order. This is called selfishness; as a captain, it is easy to be selfish. It is easy for Babar and Rizwan to open the innings for Pakistan and create so many records. If you want to be a leader, you have to think about your team”, Gautam Gambhir said.
Earlier Pakistani greats, Waqar Younis, and Wasim Akram ripped Babar Azam, terming him “selfish” and “insecure”. The legendary pacers argued that Babar Azam may have become a great batsman but his captaincy was still a work in progress. The duo even questioned his reluctance to bat down instead of his usual opening position to provide the much-needed stability to Pakistan's vulnerable middle order.
Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram pointed out that to become a great leader Babar Azam needed to focus on how to improve his team's chances of winning and to attain that he must come out of his comfort zone. But he wasn't willing to do so, and that's why Pakistan was on the verge of exiting the T20 World Cup in Australia.
“The easiest place to bat in T20s is opening. You have not let anyone else open in the last two years. I have discussed this with Misbah before, that's why don't you try something new? You have tried it out with bowling, but with batting, we have tried all the experiments with the middle order. But the openers have remained the same and they have batted 14-15 overs together,” Waqar Younis said in a conversation with a Pakistani television channel.
“Sometimes, as a captain and as a leader, you leave your spot and say, Haider, if it is not working out for you in the middle order, I will give you the easier spot (opening) and we never tried that out, and that is why we are suffering. And we also lose because of the way they score runs. To become No.1 and No. 2 (in T20I rankings) is not a big deal, the important thing is to win after scoring those runs,” Waqar Younis added.
“All of these things begin at the top. And at the top is your captain. If your captain plays for himself and is insecure. If your captain scores runs and lets other batters play at his position, you get to know that your captain is ready to sacrifice himself for you, this Babar has to learn,” Wasim Akram said.
“The difference between being a captain and the leader, well that's the difference,” Waqar Younis concluded.
