Aakash Chopra: “Why are you blaming Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam?”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra admitted he is surprised at the amount of anger being directed towards Pakistan white-ball captain Babar Azam and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan.
His comments come after Pakistan’s disastrous performance in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where they were eliminated in the group stage.
Azam was the team’s highest run-scorer with 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
As for Rizwan, he was the second-highest run-scorer with 110 runs in four games, which included a top score of 53 not out, at an average of 36.66 and a strike-rate of 90.90.
Since both of them performed with the bat, Chopra questioned why none of the other players in the Pakistan team are being held accountable, especially those who failed to live up to expectations.
“Why are you blaming Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam? Everyone is saying that Babar and Rizwan play like this or that and that they shouldn’t be played in T20Is, and you don’t qualify because of them. Then I ask a question, it’s both for the Pakistan public and the selectors – did you not know that they play like this?” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“Is it a shock for you that Rizwan takes his time and Babar also has a style of playing? If you made players who play like that the captain and an important player (Rizwan), it’s not their mistake. They play like that only and you have not lost because of them. Even if you have lost, the fact is that these players have played like this only, not from today but for the last eight years.”
Pakistan lost to the United States of America and India in the T20 World Cup before bouncing back to beat Canada and Ireland.
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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