Ramiz Raja hits out at Pakistan and Babar Azam, says team looked 'timid and scared'

Former Pakistan cricketers Ramiz Raja, Shoaib Akhtar, Rashid Latif and Kamran Akmal have lashed out at the national side and have also questioned the captaincy of Babar Azam after their narrow two-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023. With this loss, Pakistan have been shunted out of the tournament. Ramiz Raja, the former skipper and ex-Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, said that Pakistan were still reeling from their loss against India and seemed to be lost. “The massive defeat against India has given a psychological dent to Pakistan. They seemed to carry that loss in this match as well. They looked timid and scared and failed to close out the game. Babar Azam and top order looked over-cautious. They lacked authority,” Ramiz said on his YouTube channel. Additionally, Raja also raised questions about team selection as well as the way Babar Azam led the side. He said that Fakhar Zaman was below par in the whole tournament and that he should have been dropped for the match against Sri Lanka. Raja urged Babar Azam to take a more authoritative role as captain, especially on pitches that are slow. The former Pakistan cricketer asked Babar to be more confident and assertive in his decisions. Ramiz Raja was also disappointed with the absence of Imam-ul-Haq, who suffered from back spasms and Saud Shakeel, who couldn’t recover from fever and missed the match. He gave an example of the 1992 World Cup, where Inzamam-ul-Haq was determined to play the game despite not being too well. “He was forced to play and was told there is no other option. He turned up and played a gem of a knock. Half-fit players should take risks if they want to become great players,” he said. It was a very disappointing tournament for Pakistan. They went down to India by 228 runs and then lost to Sri Lanka in Super Fours. Babar Azam scored a big ton against Nepal, but he failed to put up a solid score against India and Sri Lanka.