BTN News: Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has minced no words about Babar Azam’s captaincy and form at the 2024 T20 World Cup which saw Pakistan making an early exit despite staging a recovery late in the Super 12 stages. Although Sehwag has targeted Azam’s T20 cricket, specifically his strike rate as a batsman and how he has fared as the captain of Pakistan, his words.
Pakistan, under the leadership of Babar Azam, who could never take off, were knocked out of the T20 World Cup 2024, which ended on Sunday. Although victories in their final 2 group-stage matches versus Canada and Ireland had brought the doughty Pakistan up from 5th spot in their group, the washout of USA v Ireland effectively confirmed the former’s exit from the Super Eights stage.
India’s Virender Sehwag minces no words in his assessment of BabarSeparately, Virender Sehwag, a member of India’s triumphant 2007 T20 World Cup squad, minced no words while evaluating Babar Azam points. While criticising Azam for his batting records, Sehwag, pointed out that the Pakistan captain has only scored 122 runs in four matches at a strike rate of 101.66 and said that the figures are not up to the mark of the requirements of the modern T20 cricket.
The stylus and leadership of Babar Azam
Sehwag pointed out that Azam, who is an old-fashioned player in his batting style that is drilled in textbook shots than flamboyant six-hitting, was not in accordance with the demands of T20 cricket. He called out Azam’s unhappiness taking on quick bowlers and noted he would struggle to up the ante during powerplay overs that are pivotal for giving T20 matches distinct dimensions of meet or fail to meet expectations.
The subtweet had read: “Babar Azam makes rotation of strike look easy, never puts bowler under pressure, so he hasn’t scored a ton.” He only hits sixes well-set and while he is hitting spinners. He plays safe cricket, he keeps the ball down by playing the percentage – that might deliver more runs but not the runs required by his team.
“Calls for Leadership Change”
Sehwag also criticised Azhar Ali on his captaincy career, saying that style of cricket does not suit the team’s strategy, then he had to leave the captaincy of the team. You have to assess (as a leader) whether the way you are doing it help or hinder the team’s goals. If not, it might be time to appoint someone at the helm, who can provide the aggressive does your batting needs, Sehwag said.
Due to the increasing criticism, Babar Azam has come to his captaincy and performance, first by saying that in 2023 he had agreed to resign from the captaincy only to be restored to his post later by the PCB. While Azam kept the door open to hold a conversation with the board before completely assuming leadership of his role, he stressed that their immediate needs remained the longer-term priority Leggat had prepped them for.
