Steve Smith: “He’s a world-class player”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Australia batsman Steve Smith has lavished praise on Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam, calling him a “world-class player”.
Azam is under immense pressure at the moment following the men in green’s dismal showing in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Pakistan lost to the United States of America and India before fighting back to claim wins over Canada and Ireland.
Azam was Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in the tournament with 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
However, even though questions have been raised about his future as captain, Smith made it clear that there is no denying how good of a batsman the 29-year-old is.
“He’s a world-class player,” Smith told Star Sports as quoted by Geo Super.
Pakistan ended the group stage of the T20 World Cup with a 2-2 record, but it was not enough to earn them a spot in 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
[TS_Poll id=”124″]
We have no other choice but make Babar Azam the Captain again despite his poor performance as a Captain in the recent T20’s. He has no personality, speaks with a croak and because of his uneducated background and other personality defects, a poor leader. The others are worse; so at least he knows how to bat. So unless better players come up we will have to do with this poor specimen of a Captain. That is on the field. Unfortunately off the field, I mean the PCB management is full of political and appointments from other powerful quarters including its highly unpopular and controversial chief. Then there are touts like Shahid Afridi all the time having a negative influence on cricket in Pakistan. He is bent upon destroying the career of his son in law Shaheen Afridi by having him made the captain prematurely. So why should we only blame the players for this dismal performance?