Wasim Akram: “The captaincy pressure has had an effect on Babar and he looked stressed, during the Asia Cup as well as in the World Cup”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary left-arm pace bowler Wasim Akram said Pakistan batsman Babar Azam “looked stressed” while captaining the team in the Asia Cup and 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Azam was being closely scrutinised, with his leadership tactics often being the subject of immense criticism.
Ultimately, the 29-year-old gave up the captaincy after the World Cup, where he made 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
“The captaincy pressure has had an effect on Babar and he looked stressed, during the Asia Cup as well as in the World Cup,” Wasim was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they bounced back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand they could not make it through to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign on a sour note as England demolished them by 93 runs.
Azam is now representing Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia and made scores of 21 and 14 in the first Test in Perth, which Pakistan lost by 360 runs.
The second Test will begin on December 26 in Melbourne.
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
[TS_Poll id=”100″]