Basit Ali: “Was he playing for himself or for the country? Is Babar Azam more important than Pakistan? Who will ask Babar about this performance?”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has taken aim at batsman Babar Azam, questioning if he is playing for himself or the team.

Basit’s comments come after he was frustrated with the 30-year-old’s performance against New Zealand in the 2025 Champions Trophy.

In that match, which the men in green lost by 60 runs, Azam scored 64 runs off 90 balls, which included six boundaries and a six.

Angered by how slow Azam played, Basit wants to know who will have the guts to ask the Lahore native about the way he batted.

“Was he playing for himself or for the country? Is Babar Azam more important than Pakistan? Who will ask Babar about this performance?” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.

Along with losing to New Zealand, Pakistan were also beaten by India, which led to them crashing out in the group stage of the Champions Trophy.

Their final match against Bangladesh was washed out, meaning they didn’t win a single match throughout the tournament.

Pakistan will now embark on a tour of New Zealand, which will comprise five T20Is and three ODIs that will be held from March 16 to April 5.

Pakistan Squad for T20I Series against New Zealand: Hasan Nawaz, Omair Yousuf, Mohammad Haris, Abdul Samad, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Irfan Khan Niazi, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Abbas Afridi, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Khan

Pakistan Squad for ODI Series against New Zealand: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Salman Ali Agha, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Akif Javed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Irfan Khan Niazi, Naseem Shah, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir

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