Mushtaq Ahmed: “If we talk about Babar, there’s a reason why people respect him worldwide. He brings honour to Pakistan. I think sometimes people are very hard on him”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed has lauded white-ball captain Babar Azam, saying he “brings honour to Pakistan” with his outstanding batting performances.
Mushtaq noted that the 29-year-old continuously scores runs for the men in green in all three formats, which is why he has earned the respect of people all over the world.
Given what Azam has done for the national team and how many games he has won single-handedly, Mushtaq feels “people are very hard on him” at times, especially when they criticise him for failing to perform for a few games or minor captaincy errors.
“If we talk about Babar, there’s a reason why people respect him worldwide. He brings honour to Pakistan. I think sometimes people are very hard on him,” the 54-year-old told Cricket Pakistan as quoted by NDTV.
Azam recently led Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and accumulated 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 successive losses to the United States of America and India before bouncing back to defeat Canada and Ireland.
However, those two wins went in vain as Pakistan were knocked out in the group stage of the competition.
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