Mushtaq Ahmed: “Other players also have a duty to score runs; they have a role to play too. If one person gives you a score, but the rest of our players don’t go on to score in the remaining 7-8 overs, then there’s a problem”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary spinner Mushtaq Ahmed said Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam cannot be the only batsman who scores runs in the team.
He noted that other players have to step up and make their presence felt as they are being picked for a reason.
Mushtaq pointed out that this has been a recurring problem for the last three to four years and stressed that something needs to change in order for the men in green to see a change in their fortunes.
“Other players also have a duty to score runs; they have a role to play too. If one person gives you a score, but the rest of our players don’t go on to score in the remaining 7-8 overs, then there’s a problem,” he told Cricket Pakistan as quoted by NDTV.
“This has been happening for 3-4 years. They (other players except Babar) only score when it doesn’t make a significant impact.”
Azam recently captained Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and 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.
The men in green kicked off their campaign with back-to-back losses to the United States of America and India before fighting back to beat Canada and Ireland.
Even though they ended the group stage with a 2-2 record, 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
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