Babar Azam has continued his atrocious form in the shortest format of the game, and after his failure against India in the recent ICC T20 World Cup, Irfan Pathan asked him to snatch away the ‘Legend’ status that puts him in the same league with players like Virat Kohli.
Babar Azam was rated great in the shortest format of the game for scoring the most runs in T20Is. Azam is currently the highest run-scorer in this format at the international level and the greatest player for Pakistan. However, his current poor form has hurt him and his team as well.
Pakistan suffered a crushing defeat against India by 61 runs at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Although Pakistan is alive in the T20 World Cup, they have been criticized for being non-competitive throughout the game.
Irfan Pathan demands to stop comparison between Babar Azam and Virat Kohli
Questions will certainly be asked of Pakistan’s players and coaching staff as well, but Babar Azam has been attacked by many because of his position in international cricket. He failed to hit a big hit against Axar Patel as his stumps were uprooted after having a tough time on the pitch.
Babar has not been able to score more than 14 in the last 5 matches against India in T-20. Hence he has been asked to be removed from the same conversation and exclusive list which includes great players like Virat Kohli.
“Please, stop comparing Babar Azam with Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli is in a different league. Look at his innings against Pakistan in the 2022 World Cup – has Babar ever played such an innings under pressure?” Irfan Pathan asked while speaking on his YouTube channel.
Irfan Pathan slams Babar Azam for high pressure game
Babar Azam has a very poor record against India in T20 and the last time he performed well against India was in Dubai in 2021. Babar then scored an unbeaten 68* as Pakistan registered a 10-wicket win against India in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
However, Irfan Pathan feels that Babar Azam is not a player who stands up for his team in tough times, like famous players like Virat Kohli used to do. In this game too, Babar walked off the field when Pakistan was under pressure and had lost two early wickets.
“Apart from 2021, when dew played a big role, how many times has Babar withstood pressure and finished the game like this? After three wickets fell, he should have batted till the 15th over, focused on singles and doubles and played a longer innings,” Pathan said.
“Even a strike rate of 120 would have been acceptable,” Irfan Pathan said.
Babar Azam was dismissed when Pakistan was struggling to score runs and the Indian bowlers had pressed them for runs. They were chasing a mammoth target of 176 runs on a slow pitch, and after the fall of early wickets, Irfan Pathan felt that more than scoring runs at a fast pace, what matters more for Pakistan is rotating the strike freely.
“Even a strike rate of 120 would have been acceptable given the scoreboard pressure. Instead, he went for a big shot and was out. He does not have the ability to consistently hit boundaries at will, nor to rotate the strike freely against quality spin when the ball comes into play in the middle overs,” Pathan pointed out as a form of criticism.
After this, Pakistan was out for 114 runs and could not play its quota of 20 overs. Pathan summarized, “Because of that approach, Pakistan couldn’t even bat the full 20 overs. It was a shameful defeat – there’s no doubt about that.”
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