Imam-ul-Haq: “I want fans of Babar from Pakistan to see his fandom outside of Pakistan. I still believe he doesn’t get that respect here, people make a lot of memes and talk negatively about him”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Opener Imam-ul-Haq believes batsman Babar Azam is not respected enough in Pakistan as “people make a lot of memes and talk negatively about him”.
Azam has done so much for Pakistan cricket and been the team’s frontline batsmen across all three formats for many years.
Even though he is trying to break out of a rough patch right now, Imam feels the 30-year-old deserves to be held in higher regard by the people of Pakistan.
“I want fans of Babar from Pakistan to see his fandom outside of Pakistan. I still believe he doesn’t get that respect here, people make a lot of memes and talk negatively about him,” he told Cricwick as quoted by PakPassion on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam was recently involved in Pakistan’s white-ball series against Australia and scored 80 runs in three ODIs at an average of 80.
In the three T20Is, he finished with 47 runs at an average of 15.66.
Pakistan then travelled to Zimbabwe, but Azam was rested for both the ODI and T20I series.
He returned for the ongoing tour of South Africa and began by making 31 runs in two T20Is at an average of 15.50.
As for the three-match ODI series, the Lahore-born batsman amassed 148 runs, which included two fifties, at an average of 49.33.
Pakistan and South Africa are now playing a two-Test series, which the Proteas lead 1-0 after winning the 1st Test in Centurion by two wickets.
In the 1st Test, Azam made scores of 4 and 50.
The 2nd Test will start 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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