In a viral rant, Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad lambasted captain Babar Azam for his underperformance.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam is critics’ favourite target at the moment. With his team losing the first two matches of the T20 World Cup 2024, to the USA and India respectively, Babar’s been the focal point of criticism coming from former cricketers, fans, and pundits. Even Ahmed Shehzad, an active Pakistani cricketer, tore into Babar and shredded his reputation on a television channel in Pakistan. Shehzad shed light on Babar’s poor statistics in big competitions and suggested that the Pakistan skipper averages only 27 in T20I cricket when it comes to big events.
In a fiery rant on live television, Shehzad said that Pakistan have been losing to mediocre sides under Babar’s captaincy, and even also been losing to top teams’ B, C and D squads.
“Jab se Babar Azam captain hain, hum bohot mediocre, sorry for using this word, teams se haar rahe hain (ever since Babar became captain, we have been losing to mediocre teams),” said.
Ahmed Shehzad, “Jab ap har jaye to Babar Azam bed se chalang marne lage the, Shadab ne 4 din se roti nhi khayi. pic.twitter.com/bcCAi5LCDH
— 𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞 (@CallMeSheri1) June 10, 2024
Ahmed Shehzad, “Jab ap har jaye to Babar Azam bed se chalang marne lage the, Shadab ne 4 din se roti nhi khayi. pic.twitter.com/bcCAi5LCDH
— (@CallMeSheri1) June 10, 2024
Ahmed Shehzad on a TV show, in a video that has gone viral. “The kind of progress that was going on, these things were on the cards and bound to happen some day.”
Shehzad feels Pakistan’s veteran players should’ve stepped up and taken responsibility of the team’s chase of 120 runs against India but they failed to do so.
“There are players who are taking care of the team for the last 4-5 years, who take all the decisions. So wasn’t it their duty to take the responsibility of ensuring that the team chases down 120 to win such an important match against India?” Shehzad asked.
“Aapne B, C, D teams ke khilaaf perform kar ke logon ko hallucinate kiya hai aur pagal banaya hai (you guys have performed against B, C, D teams and fooled the people),” Shehzad accused the team and further said: “Your salaries were hiked, PCB paid you to evolve yourself and your cricket…”
Ahmed Shehzad, “King ka mai kya kro jisne mujhe match hi jeetwa ke nhi dena.” pic.twitter.com/kEYeuH8Nhj
— 𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞 (@CallMeSheri1) June 10, 2024