New Delhi: Pakistan has always been a ‘funny’ team given the unpredictability that they bring to any ICC event. Likewise, this year also a team filled with global superstars like Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Babar Azam and Rizwan, Pakistan slumped to back-to-back defeats.
Although against heavyweights India, the game was a 50-50 affair, against WC debutants- America! Pakistan’s approach has been highly questionable. One of the main problems with the men in green has been the visual dissonance between the bat and ball in the entire team. This has led to the team bottling up of easy games.
Both the games, against India and the USA, showed the fragile batting lineup that was sent in this campaign of Pakistan. It was all show and no results! Big names like Rizwan, Fakhar, Babar, Shadab etc have failed to turn the heat on. Even the young PSL sensation Azam Khan also failed to get go and was dropped from the team under ‘mysterious’ circumstances!
Highest scorer for Pakistan in this WC when all the big hyped names Chokli, Hitman, Sky failed to score in these tricky pitches.
Thankyou Babar Azam for everything 🙏🏻#PAKvsIRE || #BabarAzam pic.twitter.com/lzfxBnNkZN
— Leo. (@larthbroke) June 16, 2024
“We didn’t play as a team..”- Babar’s assessment
Amidst this cauldron of controversy and criticism, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has made a very uncharacteristic move and passed on the pillow of criticism to his team! Earlier, in the game against Ireland, Babar made a fighting 32 to chase down 107, that the men in green were poised to choke down once again.
In the post-match conference, Babar made some shocking remarks that have startled the entire cricketing world! “I think with the bowling, conditions suited our bowlers. But in batting we made few mistakes….” Furthermore, Babar added that it is a team game and he cannot “shoulder” the responsibility for everyone in the team!
Most runs as captain in T20 WCs:
549 – Babar Azam (17 inns)*
529 – MS Dhoni (29 inns)
527 – Kane Williamson (19 inns)
360 – M Jayawardene (11 inns)
352 – Graeme Smith (16 inns) pic.twitter.com/9wYaANAHt6— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) June 16, 2024
On the other hand, left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has remarked that they did not play the “right brand” of cricket throughout the tournament. However, the pundits of Pakistani cricket have said the patchy form of Babar and the “battle of egos” has been one of the major reasons for the team’s failure. Naturally, any hopes and justification from these two are only treated as false promises of a utopian tomorrow and nothing more!
Babar Azam said “As a captain, I cannot play for every player. We lost as a team” 🇵🇰💔💔💔#T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/WS8q5QGXuX
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) June 16, 2024
As of now, Pakistan’s journey in the T20 World Cup is over. However, the team needs to regroup and think about strategies that can salvage the problems gripping the team ahead of the next ICC event.
