Tanvir Ahmed: “No matter what he does, people will still find reasons to criticise him. If he scores 60-70 runs, they’ll say he’s performing against youngsters. These people will never be happy”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan seamer Tanvir Ahmed believes no matter how well Babar Azam performs with the bat, his critics will never be happy.
Azam has struggled for consistency when it comes to scoring runs for quite some time, but has shown signs of progress in Pakistan’s last couple of assignments.
During the 2025 Champions Trophy, he made 87 runs in two games, which included a top score of 64, at an average of 43.50.
He then proceeded to score 129 runs in three ODIs against New Zealand, which included two fifties, at an average of 43.
Even though Azam was Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in the ODI series against the Black Caps, Tanvir pointed out that people will always find a reason to criticise him.
“Babar Azam is a top-quality player, so it’s no surprise that he will score runs in domestic cricket. He is playing to silence his critics. But no matter what he does, people will still find reasons to criticise him. If he scores 60-70 runs, they’ll say he’s performing against youngsters. These people will never be happy,” he was quoted as saying by TOK Sports on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam recently captained the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and amassed 288 runs in 10 matches, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
Despite his solid campaign in PSL 10, the 30-year-old was not selected for Pakistan’s three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, which the men in green won 3-0.
Pakistan are now touring Bangladesh and find themselves 2-0 down in the ongoing three-match T20I series.
They will look to secure a consolation win in the 3rd T20I on July 24 in Mirpur.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza and Sufiyan Muqeem
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