Pakistan captain Babar Azam is facing the heat on social media after he posted a cryptic tweet targeting his critics. Babar Azam's post on Twitter came after he was panned by the Green Army fans and former cricketers after Pakistan suffered a second consecutive Test defeat at the hands of England earlier this week. Pakistan's narrow 26-run loss to Ben Stokes' side came after they were bludgeoned by the Three Lions in the opening match in Rawalpindi.

Despite Pakistan's poor show, Babar Azam has defended his teammates who failed to rise to the occasion when they were put to a stern Test by the Englishmen. More so, he has even slammed his detractors who have criticized his performance in both matches.

While Babar Azam made a century in Rawalpindi and a fifty in the Multan Test, he was dismissed early in the second essay of both games, and many experts have blamed it for Pakistan's series loss to England.

However, Babar Azam doesn't seem to like that criticism; on Wednesday, he took to the microblogging website to fire back at his critics.

“Do not let compliments go to your head and criticism to your heart,” he wrote on Twitter.

His post, however, riled many Pakistan cricket supporters who dubbed him a “fraud” and his post “embarrassing”.

 

Babar Azam seems to have been hurt by the uncomfortable questions that have been asked of him since the Multan defeat. After the match ended in Pakistan's loss, he was taken aback by a question from a reporter who suggested that he performed when there was no pressure, pointing towards his twin failures in the second innings of the Rawalpindi and Multan Tests.

In response, an irked Babar Azam said sarcastically, “When I score runs you say I got them on flat pitches and easy opposition, and when I don't get runs, everyone says I can't perform in difficult situations. Please don't forget the 196 runs I got against Australia.”

“I thought we put up a good fight in the second innings (of the second Test). Saud (Shakeel) and (Mohammad) Nawaz played very well and even Imam (ul-Haq) came back from a hospital to get runs but we need to still up our performance to beat this England side,” he noted.

Among the former cricketers who have blasted Babar Azam and his team for their lackluster showing against Pakistan are ex-spinner Danish Kaneria, former star allrounder Shahid Afridi, and Salman Butt.

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“Babar Azam once again failed. He scores run in the first innings as there is no pressure. I don’t understand why he fails to score runs in the second innings when his team needs him the most,” Danish Kaneria said on his YouTube channel.

“Is he unable to handle the pressure? Is he the only first-innings player? Should Pakistan bring someone else other than Babar in the second innings?” the former leg-spinner added.

On the other hand, Shahid Afridi questioned Babar Azam's leadership but backed as a batter. According to him, Babar Azam was the backbone of Pakistan's batting line-up and needed support at a time when things were not going well for him on the pitch.

“As a captain, I always felt one had to be a good leader and that was possible by uniting all the players. It means that you should discuss your plans with seniors. When you start taking advice from outsiders and not involve seniors, issues come (up),” Shahid Afridi said during a debate on Samaa TV.

“We have also witnessed such things in our time. If we don’t value our players, the world will also not value them. No doubt, Babar Azam is the backbone of this team. His performance is not too bad in the series. Wo koi table tennis ya squash ka khel to nahi khelne jata hai jo akele perform kare aur jeetwaye (He doesn’t play table tennis or squash to triumph his team on his own)? We can’t expect enough from an individual unless the XI performs. He is the captain with a lot of responsibilities. He is our hero and he’ll stay a hero,” Shahid Afridi mentioned.

Even former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt echoed Shahid Afridi's views on Babar Azam's leadership.

“Leadership doesn’t come with experience. Many players have been captains since their first match itself. Ben Stokes has captained just nine matches and won eight of them. Only in Pakistan do we say that the skipper will learn with time. Professionalism is lacking completely,” Salman Butt said.

The third and final Test of the series between Pakistan and England will be played from December 17 in Karachi. Though Babar Azam and his men lost the first two matches, they would look to salvage their pride by winning the third.