The legendary Krishnamachari Srikkanth tore into Pakistan skipper Babar Azam after his team bowed out of the 2024 T20 World Cup on Sunday.

The former India opener suggested that Babar Azam should retire from T20Is because he was a good Test cricketer, but wasn't great in the 20-over format.

“Babar Azam, I don't think he should be playing T20 cricket. Maybe a good/great Test cricketer. But I don't think he should be playing T20, in my opinion, frankly speaking. I mean, you can't do this ‘tuk-tuking' all the time in T20 cricket. You talk about stats, they say 4000 runs – Babar, 4000 runs – Virat Kohli, 4000 runs – Rohit Sharma. Man, his strike rate is only 112-115! What are you talking about?,” Krishnamachari Srikkanth told Star Sports.

During the weekend, Babar Azam powered Pakistan's run-chase against Ireland after the 2009 T20 World Cup champions found themselves in deep trouble at 95-7. Needing 107 to win their second consecutive match in the event, Pakistan suffered a batting collapse of mammoth proportions before Babar Azam rescued the ship to take them home.

Despite Babar Azam's feisty unbeaten innings of 32 off 34 balls, Pakistan was ousted from the tournament.

Earlier, Wasim Akram ripped into Babar Azam and his boys after Pakistan's shocking ouster from the T20 World Cup.

Following Pakistan's exit from the premier T20I event, the former Pakistan captain urged the national selectors to “change the entire team” if they wished to see Pakistan performing better in ICC competitions.

“Congratulations to the USA, They've done amazingly well. When you talk about globalization of the game, this is it. USA qualified for the Super Eight, they deserve to be there. They defeated Pakistan, in their group match. For Pakistan, what's the plan? EK 601 (flight number) to Dubai, to their respective cities. From then, we will see what happens,” Wasim Akram posted on Instagram.

“Pakistani players think that if they don't perform well, the coaches will be sacked, and nothing will happen to them. It is time to keep the coaches and change the entire team,” Wasim Akram noted.

The Green Army's exit from the tournament came after the match between the USA and Ireland was abandoned due to heavy showers in Florida.

After botching up their run-chase against India earlier in the event, Pakistan's fate was no longer in their hands and Babar Azam and his men needed certain things to go their way to qualify for the Super Eight. Ireland's victory over the USA was essential for Pakistan to earn a place in the Super Eight. However, it didn't happen as rain gods washed out the contest between Ireland and the hosts.

The abandonment of the clash between Ireland and the USA meant that the latter moved to five points, taking their tally beyond the Pakistani side's reach.

After Pakistan won their last group fixture against Ireland in the T20 World Cup, Babar Azam and Co moved to four points, which were insufficient for Super Eight qualification.

Though Pakistan's exit from the T20 World Cup was confirmed on Friday, former players, including those from their country, believe that Babar Azam and Co lost the plot after their consecutive shocking defeats to the USA and India at the start of the high-profile biennial competition.

While their batters put up a subdued performance against the USA in their opener, the Pakistani batting line-up wilted under pressure to lose a close encounter against India after having choked in the second half of their run chase to finish at 113-7 in their allocated 20 overs. The Indians wrapped up a hard-fought six-run victory over their arch-rivals with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah producing a stunning display of tearaway fast bowling with figures of 3 wickets for 14.

On the other hand, former England captain Michael Vaughan was critical of Babar Azam's captaincy during the T20 World Cup. He emphasized that Pakistan should have won the game against India, but Babar Azam's marshaling of his troops let the team down.

“I still don't see him as a T20 captain. I see him as a Test and 50-over captain. In those two formats in which he excels as a player. In T20 cricket, his game is very good, a pure player, but he is not up there with the top 15 batters in the world in T20 cricket. I think there are better players than him up the order,” Michael Vaughan told Cricbuzz.

“But I don't want them to change it (captain) again. You assume they got to have some consistency. There's no point changing once again. Even if he is not perfectly suited to captain in T20 cricket, I do think for this period, its worth him staying consistent because the last thing Pakistan need is a bit more kamikaze, swapping in and changing and overreacting. I think most Pakistan fans will be realistic with this team's performance. They have actually not got a great team, at the minute, on paper, its just not a very good team. Its down to the coaches, selectors and the system back in Pakistan to try and give those in power (captain and coaches) to choose a pool of players,” he concluded.