Basit Ali: “On social media, fans call me traitor for criticising Babar Azam”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has revealed that he was called a traitor on social media after he criticised batsman Babar Azam.

Azam has struggled to score runs consistently for the men in green for quite some time, which has raised questions about how long his rough patch will go on for.

The 30-year-old recently played in the ODI tri-series against New Zealand and South Africa, where he made 62 runs in three games at an average of 20.66.

He followed that up with 87 runs in two matches in the 2025 Champions Trophy, which included a top score of 64, at an average of 43.50.

“Social media mey hume log gaddar bolte hai kyunki hum Babar Azam ko criticise karte hai (On social media, fans call me traitor for criticising Babar Azam),” Basit said on ARY News as quoted by NDTV.

Pakistan lost to New Zealand and India in the Champions Trophy, which led to them getting knocked out in the group stage.

Their final match against Bangladesh was abandoned due to rain.

Pakistan’s next assignment will be a tour of New Zealand, which will consist of five T20Is and three ODIs that will be played 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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