Gautam Gambhir: “In my opinion, first, you think about your team instead of yourself; if nothing goes according to your plan, you should have sent Fakhar Zaman up the batting order. This is called selfishness; as a captain, it is easy to be selfish”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has lashed out at Pakistan captain Babar Azam for being selfish.
He noted that the 28-year-old wasn’t in great form in the T20 World Cup and should have given his opening spot to Fakhar Zaman.
Azam and Mohammad Rizwan open the batting for the men in green in T20 Internationals, but have been criticised often for their low strike-rates and putting undue pressure on the middle order.
Gambhir added that the Pakistan skipper needs to think about the team rather than himself and breaking records.
“In my opinion, first, you think about your team instead of yourself; if nothing goes according to your plan, you should have sent Fakhar Zaman up the batting order. This is called selfishness; as a captain, it is easy to be selfish,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“It is easy for Babar and Rizwan to open the innings for Pakistan and create so many records. If you want to be a leader, you have to think about your team.”
Pakistan are through to the T20 World Cup semi-finals after beating Bangladesh by five wickets.
They will now face New Zealand on Wednesday in Sydney.
Pakistan’s 2022 T20 World Cup squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Mohammad Haris, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood
Reserves:Â Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir