Ramiz Raja: “Whenever Pakistan lose a match, both Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are labelled as villains on social media back home”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja has pointed out that whenever the national team loses a match, limited overs captain Mohammad Rizwan and batsman Babar Azam “are labelled as villains on social media back home”.
Azam and Rizwan are always expected to perform in every match and whenever they fail to score runs in a couple of games, a significant amount of criticism is directed their way.
Many former cricketers have highlighted how unfair this is, stating that other players have to also step up as they are in the Pakistan team for a reason.
“Whenever Pakistan lose a match, both Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are labelled as villains on social media back home,” Ramiz was quoted as saying by journalist Farid Khan on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Pakistan recently toured Australia and won the ODI series 2-1 before being crushed 3-0 in the T20Is.
They then went to Zimbabwe and came away with a 2-1 win in both the ODI and T20I series.
Pakistan are now in South Africa and lost the T20I series 2-0 before bouncing back to claim a 3-0 victory in the ODIs.
The men in green and the Proteas are currently involved in a two-Test series and the men in green find themselves 1-0 down after losing the 1st Test by two wickets.
In the 1st Test, Azam made 4 and 50, while Rizwan scored 27 and 3.
The 2nd Test between Pakistan and South Africa will begin on January 3 in Cape Town.
Pakistan Squad for South Africa T20I Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa ODI Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha
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