Basit Ali: “I told one year ago on my channel that Babar Azam is a very good batter. He should quit captaincy, just like Virat Kohli did. But, as we all know, certain people on social media twisted my words, saying I don’t like Babar Azam and I am a traitor”
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Former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali has revealed that he was called “a traitor” after urging Babar Azam to resign as captain a year ago.
At that time, Basit felt that Azam should have stepped down in order to focus on his batting, just like India superstar Virat Kohli did.
However, he pointed out that people “twisted my words” and it made him look as if he didn’t like the 29-year-old.
“I told one year ago on my channel that Babar Azam is a very good batter. He should quit captaincy, just like Virat Kohli did. But, as we all know, certain people on social media twisted my words, saying I don’t like Babar Azam and I am a traitor,” Basit told ARY News as quoted by NDTV.
Azam ended up resigning as captain in all three formats following Pakistan’s elimination from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he scored 320 runs in nine matches, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
The men in green triumphed in their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before suffering four straight defeats to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to make it to the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, the men in green lost their final game against England by 93 runs.
Azam will now be involved in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which will start on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi