Pakistan’s left-handed opener Imam-ul-Haq threw his weight behind star batter Babar Azam, who has been under fire due to string of below-par performances across formats.
The national men’s team recently suffered a 3-0 T20I series whitewash against Australia, where star batter Babar only managed 47 runs at a dismal average of 15.66 and strike-rate of 142.42.
During the second T20I of the aforementioned series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Babar, who was fielding near the boundary, experienced harsh chants from the crowd.
The video capturing the incident quickly went viral on social media.
“Have some shame! You don’t even deserve a spot in the T20 team. Go back to Lahore,” the crowd chanted.
The right-handed batter looked back towards the crowd in disgust but held his composure and chose not to react.
The incident drew massive criticism from the cricket fraternity, including Imam, who took to Instagram to express his disappointment by sharing the video and questioned the nation’s behaviour towards their stars.
“As a nation, we have failed. Instead of supporting, we mock. Babar, you are still a champion,” Imam captioned the video.
For the unversed, after the T20I series heartbreak against Australia, Pakistan are set to embark on a white-ball tour of Zimbabwe, comprised of three ODIs and as many T20Is.
The touring side named a new-look squad for Zimbabwe tour, resting key players like Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Babar. White-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan will lead the side in ODIs, while his deputy will take up the leadership role in the T20I series.
Pakistan’s ODI squad for Zimbabwe:
Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (WK), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani and Tayyab Tahir.
Pakistan’s T20I squad for Zimbabwe:
Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (WK), Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Sufyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan.
- Imam-ul-haq
- Babar Azam
