New Delhi: Former Pakistani selector and player Mohammad Wasim has slammed Babar Azam for his ‘stubborn’ attitude when it comes to making changes to the squad. These startling remarks come into the public domain at a time when things look very wavy for the national team.
The men in green are currently starring in a series whitewash against Bangladesh at the ongoing test series. These shambolic performances have attracted criticism from all corners of Pakistani cricket.
Babar’s problematic behaviour!
Mohammad Wasim was the chief selector of the Pakistani national side from December 2020 to December 2022. During his time with the national side, Wasim had a bitter taste with Babar who was previously the all-format captain for Pakistan. Speaking about his experience with Babar, Wasim said:
It was a pain to make him accept changes. He was very stubborn and sometimes, I had to overstep my boundaries just to get him on board with certain decisions….
Babar Azam has fallen from the exalted position that he was bestowed earlier. The right-hand batsman’s performance in the ongoing test has also been far from satisfactory. In the first innings, Azam scored scores of 0 and 22 while in the second test in the first innings, Babar scored a paltry 31.
Here’s how the game ended on Day 3.
Summary of Day 3
Pakistan started the game with a lot of positives as Khurram Shahzad and Mir Hamza ripped through their batting line-up with only Shadman Islam barely getting into double digits (the fall of wickets above will give a picture of how precarious things were).
However, things started spinning out of control for the hosts as Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Litton Das decided to take things into their control. The duo delivered a tremendous performance to rescue their team from 26/6.
Litton and Mehidy stitched the highest partnership in test cricket history for the 7th wicket. The crucial partnership between both of them pushed the total past the 200-run mark as Bangladesh ended 12 runs short of Pakistan’s first-innings score. Mehidy and Litton’s partnership was broken with a zappy delivery from Khurram which ended in the Pakistani pacer’s hands.
Khurram ended the day with a 5-wicket haul. However, the stars of the day have been Litton and Mehidy. Talking about individual scores, Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored 78 from 124 balls. Meanwhile, Litton Das scored a well-deserved century, 138 runs from 228 balls before being dismissed by Agha Salman. Bangladesh’s innings eventually folded for 262 runs. In reply, Pakistan came out all guns blazing in an attempt to dominate their opponents. However, Hasan Mahmud had some other plans in mind as he dismissed Pakistani opener Abdullah Shafique and night watchman Khurram Shahzad to end the day 9/2.
