 "Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan during a training session for Pakistan. Image: AFP")
Former Pakistan cricket captain Babar Azam has come out in support of his teammate Mohammad Rizwan . Babar recently opened up about the trolling Rizwan has faced over his viral ‘win or learn’ comment in the past several months. Rizwan’s ‘win or learn’ line became a meme online after Pakistan’s disappointing performances, especially during the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Rizwan was appointed the captain of Pakistan’s white-ball teams after the sacking of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Babar Azam following their poor performances in the 2023 ODI World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup. However, the wicketkeeper-batter soon became a laughing stock because of some of his statements in English. Among those is the famous ‘win or learn’ comment that has gone viral.
Babar backs Rizwan amid trolling over spoken English
Speaking on Peshawar Zalmi’s YouTube channel, Babar shared his honest thoughts on the matter. He backed Rizwan and said that people in Pakistan have a habit of pulling others down by making a joke out of them. Babar said that there is no concept of mental wellbeing in the country. His comment has come right before the restart of PSL 2025.
“Who created this? This was created by our own. It’s always our own who are busy pulling each other down. If he [Rizwan] said something and he said it from a different perspective — you can interpret and present it however you want,” Babar Azam said.
“In Pakistan, there is no concept of mental health, nor is there any work being done on it, while foreign players give mental health a lot of importance. Here, if someone is falling, we just keep pushing them down — and make memes out of them,” he added.
“He is very strong — stronger than all of us, and his faith is unshakable. Memes have zero effect on Rizwan. He says people have the right to express their opinions, and he’s not bothered by it,” Babar said.
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View AllHere’s what Rizwan said about the joke last month
Rizwan, who has often been mocked for his English-speaking skills in team huddles and interviews, recently responded to the criticism before his team’s opening match in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025. He admitted that he never received a formal education, which is why his English isn’t that good.
“The demand from me is cricket, not English. There is a regret that I did not complete my education, which is why I struggle in speaking English. Pakistan is not demanding English from me. If that were the case, I would leave cricket to become a professor, but I do not have that much time,” Rizwan said last month.