Faisal Iqbal on Babar Azam: “Young kids are getting him like a piece of cake. Every passing day, he is disgracing himself at the international level. He doesn’t want to learn. In my opinion, he’s [past] his prime. Time to hang up his boots”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Faisal Iqbal has slammed batsman Babar Azam, saying he is “[past] his prime” and should retire.
Iqbal argued that the 31-year-old has shown little willingness to improve and continues to be dismissed by younger bowlers.
He went on to say that Azam is “disgracing himself at the international level”, adding that there are Under-19 cricketers ready to take his place.
“Young kids are getting him like a piece of cake. Every passing day, he is disgracing himself at the international level. He doesn’t want to learn. In my opinion, he’s [past] his prime. Time to hang up his boots. U-19 youngsters are ready,” he wrote on Facebook.
Azam has shown encouraging signs of getting back into form as of late as he recently captained the Peshawar Zalmi to the 2026 Pakistan Super League (PSL) title.
He played a pivotal role in his team’s triumphant campaign as he was the tournament’s highest run-scorer with 588 runs in 11 games, which included two centuries and three fifties, at an average of 73.50 and a strike-rate of 145.90.
Currently, Azam is in action in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh, but missed the 1st Test in Mirpur with a left knee injury.
He returned for the ongoing 2nd Test in Sylhet and made scores of 68 and 47.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Abdullah Fazal, Amad Butt, Azan Awais, Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi