Babar Azam has been severely criticised by former Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez for his captaincy, especially in big matches. Hafeez’s reaction came in after Pakistan lost their T20 World Cup 2022 opener to India at MCG.
The India vs Pakistan showdown in T20 World Cup 2022 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday turned out to be a nail-biter. Team India chased down the target of 160 runs on the final ball. But the nature of the match was such that the result could’ve gone to any team’s favour. Virat Kohli received plenty of plaudits for his unbeaten 82 in the match, drawing praise from the fans of both the teams, while Babar Azam has drawn criticism from a few for some of his captaincy decisions.
Babar didn’t quite have things going his way in the second half of India’s batting. After Pakistan had sent 4 Indian batters back to the hut for just 31 runs, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya stabilised the innings with a partnership of 113 runs to keep the Indian team in the hunt.
“Babar Azam’s captaincy is like a sacred cow that cannot be criticized. 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 fulfill the spin quota overs in that timeframe,” Hafeez said as a guest on a Pakistani channel.
At the post-match presentation ceremony, Babar praised his bowlers for the way they executed their plans. He also credited Virat Kohli for the way he batted and took the game away from Pakistan.
“Our bowlers bowled really well. All credit to Kohli and Pandya. It wasn’t easy with the new ball. We had partnerships after 10 overs. We had a chance. We tried to stick to our plans. But credit to Virat Kohli. In the middle we decided we wanted a wicket and held the spinner back. We had a lot of positives. The way Iftikhar played and the way Shan played,” he said.
