Shoaib Akhtar: “It was not rest; it was a punishment and a reminder. It was necessary for Babar to step down from captaincy, focus on his batting, and play his role to win for Pakistan”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar believes Babar Azam’s exit as captain and his removal from the Test team midway through a Test series against England “was a punishment and a reminder”.
He noted that Azam was not fulfilling his duty of being Pakistan’s frontline batsman and winning games for the country.
The Rawalpindi Express, who holds the record for the fastest ball bowled in international cricket at 161.3 kph (100.2 mph), has urged the 30-year-old to turn his fortunes around and get back to scoring runs consistently as the men in green desperately need it.
“It was not rest; it was a punishment and a reminder. It was necessary for Babar to step down from captaincy, focus on his batting, and play his role to win for Pakistan,” he was quoted as saying by TOK Sports on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam was recently involved in the ODI tri-series against New Zealand and South Africa, where he batted as an opener and made 62 runs in three matches at an average of 20.66.
He was then involved in the 2025 Champions Trophy and continued opening the batting.
In two games, he amassed 87 runs, which included a top score of 64, at an average of 43.50.
Pakistan lost to New Zealand and India, which led to them getting knocked out in the group stage of the Champions Trophy.
Their final game against Bangladesh was abandoned due to rain.
Pakistan Squad for 2025 Champions Trophy: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah
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