‘You can’t make Babar scapegoat’: Akram blasts critics on Pak’s WC show

Babar is under the radar of critics for the dismal World Cup show in India. To this, Akram lambasted the critics saying that making Babar a scapegoat is not right.

During his conversation on A Sports, Akram said, as quoted by Hindustan Times, “The captain alone is not playing the game. Yes, he did make captaincy errors in this World Cup and Asia Cup as well. But he isn’t alone to blame. This is a fault of the entire system for the last year or more where the players don’t know who is the coach. You cannot make him the scapegoat here.”

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However, the legendary Pakistani cricket player admitted the pressure of captaincy has affected Babar’s batting. The Pakistani skipper not only averaged 40 in this World Cup edition, but he also lost his world No. 1 ICC batting ranking in ODIs.

“Babar is a star player and when he scores the entire nation becomes happy and proud. But captaincy has put pressure on Babar’s performance. He indeed looked stressed, both in the World Cup and Asia Cup. So he needs to learn how to handle pressure and think only as a batsman and how to get runs when he is there at the crease. It is easier said than done,” Akram added.

Misbah-ul-Haq agrees:

Apart from Akram, former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq also agreed with Akram. He said not only the top order, but the entire bowling unit and the middle-order batters failed to perform. However, he accused the team management, the selectors, and the captain as well for backing these ‘out-of-form’ resources.

“As a fan of Babar, we did expect that he would be among the top three run-getters. But in Indian conditions, he failed. And in terms of resources, all were toothless. If the fast bowlers and the spinners are not performing then Babar is not the only one to blame. But when it comes to leadership, everyone has to take the blame, whether it is the team management, selectors, coaches, or Babar. It is because these resources were picked by them and you backed these out-of-form players,” he said.

Pakistani’s last match:

Pakistan played their last match of the ICC Men’s World Cup at Eden Gardens on 12 November against England and lost by 93 runs. This was the first time Pakistan lost five matches in a single World Cup edition.

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Updated: 12 Nov 2023, 03:29 PM IST