T20 World Cup: 'Babar Azam is fooling fans,' Pakistan captain slammed for losing against ‘mediocre teams’

Babar Azam has found himself in the firing line along with his teammates with the Pakistan cricket team getting their 2024 T20 World Cup campaign off to the worst possible start with back-to-back defeats, finding themselves on the verge of elimination as a result.

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After their stunning defeat against tournament co-hosts USA in Dallas last Thursday, Pakistan suffered a narrow six-run loss against arch-rivals India in New York, failing to chase down a target of 120. This despite finding themselves in the driver’s seat at 73/2 and staring at the possibility of beating India for the second time in three T20 World Cup meetings.

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Babar’s ex-teammate Ahmed Shehzad was among those who slammed the Pakistan captain following his team’s shoddy performances in the United States.

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“Jab se Babar Azam captain hain, hum boht mediocre, sorry for using this word, teams se haar rahe hain (ever since Babar became captain, we have been losing to mediocre teams).

“The kind of progress that was going on, these things were on the cards and bound to happen some day,” Shehzad said on Geo News after Pakistan’s defeat against India.

Shehzad, who hasn’t represented Pakistan since 2019 after falling out of the radar of the selectors, further accused Babar and the rest of the team management of performing only against weaker teams and fooling their fans into believing the team was on the rise.

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“There are players who are taking care of the team for the last 4-5 years, who take all the decisions. So wasn’t it their duty to take the responsibility of ensuring that the team chases down 120 to win such an important match against India?” Shehzad said.

“Aapne B, C, D teams ke khilaaf perform kar ke logon ko hallucinate kiya hai aur pagal banaya hai (you guys have performaed against B, C, D teams and fooled the people). Your salaries were hiked, PCB paid you to evolve yourself and your cricket…”

“You have fooled the entire public. Aap apne dosto ke saath team bana rahe hain, dosto ko team ke andar rakh rahe hain (you are making a team with your friends, keeping your friends in the team),” said the opening batter.

Scenarios | Have India qualified for T20 World Cup Super 8s? Are Pakistan out?

Pakistan will need to defeat both Canada, whom they face in New York on Tuesday, as well as Ireland in their remaining fixtures and also hope other results go their way for them to qualify for the Super 8s.