Babar Azam: “We believe in him and he believes in himself. One or two matches of bad performance do not bother us”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Babar Azam, who recently stepped down as Pakistan captain, said he doesn’t care if left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi fails to perform in one or two matches.
Afridi, the newly-appointed T20I skipper, is Pakistan’s pace spearhead in all three formats and is constantly under pressure to get wickets, especially with the new ball.
However, Azam noted that it is impossible for a player to perform in every game and called on people to be more realistic when it comes to key members of the team.
The 29-year-old further added that he, the other cricketers and the team management don’t lose faith in Afridi if he doesn’t live up to expectations a couple of times.
“We believe in him and he believes in himself. One or two matches of bad performance do not bother us,” he was quoted as saying by NDTV.
In the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, Afridi took 18 wickets in nine matches at an average of 26.72.
As for Azam, he made 320 runs in nine games, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
Pakistan won their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before suffering four straight defeats to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite bouncing back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to advance to the semi-finals.
Pakistan ended their campaign on a low as they lost their final group stage game against 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
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