Dinesh Karthik: “I fear Pakistan players reading it, which they will be, will feel he’s ‘letting us down.’ The way he’s conducted himself at the field, having a go after the boundaries or his shoulders dropping, isn’t a sign of a good leader”
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Former India batsman Dinesh Karthik has taken a shot at Pakistan captain Babar Azam, saying he is displaying traits that are not a “sign of a good leader”.
Karthik pointed out that during the 2024 T20 World Cup, Azam did nothing but state the obvious when the men in green lost matches.
He added that the 29-year-old also needs to improve his body language so that the other players in the Pakistan team know they have the full support of their captain.
“He’s newly appointed a captain. A lot of players are vulnerable right now, and he needs to back them. He needs to say, ‘yes, it was a bad day. We probably could’ve done certain things better, but we will make sure once we get on a roll, we have special players’. That’s the kind of language. To state that we didn’t play well in the first six overs, we lost too many wickets… it’s stating the obvious,” Karthik was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“I fear Pakistan players reading it, which they will be, will feel he’s ‘letting us down.’ The way he’s conducted himself at the field, having a go after the boundaries or his shoulders dropping, isn’t a sign of a good leader.
“He needs to find a way to find body language to suggest he’s fine with whatever’s happening, and they can come around. Yes, showing disappointment is fine, but there’s a way to show it where the players don’t get even more nervous than they already are.”
In the T20 World Cup, Azam scored 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
Pakistan lost their first two matches against the United States of America and India before claiming wins over Canada and Ireland.
Despite winning their last two group stage games, the men in green failed to qualify for the Super Eights.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
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