Usman Qadir: “He is representing the Pakistan team as a captain. He is the one carrying the team”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Usman Qadir, the Pakistan spinner, has praised batting superstar Babar Azam for carrying the men in green despite constantly having so much pressure on his shoulders.
Azam, who recently stepped down as captain, has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer in all three formats over the last few years.
Whenever he fails to score runs in a couple of matches, the criticism against him begins mounting, which indicates just how crucial he is to the national team.
Qadir agrees that the 29-year-old is vital to Pakistan’s success and applauded him for drowning out all the noise and doing what he does best – scoring runs.
“He is representing the Pakistan team as a captain. He is the one carrying the team,” the 30-year-old son of legendary Pakistan spinner Abdul Qadir was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam’s last assignment as Pakistan captain was the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he amassed 320 runs in nine matches, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
Pakistan won their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four straight games to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they managed to fight back and secure victories over Bangladesh and New Zealand, it wasn’t enough to earn them a spot in the semi-finals.
Pakistan ended their World Cup campaign on a low as they lost to England by 93 runs.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali
[TS_Poll id=”100″]