Parthiv Patel: “Babar Azam is such a selfish player, he wanted to open the innings and dropped Fakhar Zaman to No. 4”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel has called Pakistan white-ball captain Babar Azam a “selfish player” and questioned why he dropped big-hitter Fakhar Zaman to number four on the batting line-up.
Zaman is a specialist opener, but has been batting at the number four spot in T20Is as of late.
Patel noted that Azam’s selfishness shines through, especially since he wants to open the batting, even though he has been criticised for playing too slow and putting too much pressure on the middle order.
“Babar Azam is such a selfish player, he wanted to open the innings and dropped Fakhar Zaman to No. 4,” he was quoted as saying by journalist Farid Khan on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam recently captained Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and amassed 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
As for Zaman, he only managed to muster 33 runs in four games at an average of 8.25 and a strike-rate of 110.
The men in green began their campaign with consecutive losses to the United States of America and India before fighting back to beat Canada and Ireland.
Despite ending the group stage on a high, Pakistan were unable to progress to 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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