‘This is called selfishness’ – Gautam Gambhir tears apart captain Babar Azam

Gautam Gambhir

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been facing a lot of criticism after his side failed to live up to the expectations at the T20 World Cup. Even former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir called out Babar for taking selfish decisions as the captain and not thinking about the team.

Against the Netherlands, Pakistani bowlers did well to restrict the opponents to 91. Hence, many felt that Fakhar Zaman, who was returning from an injury, should have been promoted to open the innings. With such a low target, he could have taken his time and gained confidence for the upcoming clashes.

But that didn’t happen as Babar went on to play in his regular position. However, he departed for just 4 and his poor form at the showpiece event continued. Gambhir, who was in the commentary box, was very vocal about his opinion on the Pakistani skipper. He called him a selfish captain and also advised him to sacrifice his position to act as the leader of the side.

“In my opinion, first, you think about your team instead of yourself; if nothing goes according to your plan, you should have sent Fakhar Zaman up the batting order. This is called selfishness; as a captain, it is easy to be selfish. It is easy for Babar and Rizwan to open the innings for Pakistan and create so many records. If you want to be a leader, you have to think about your team,” he said.

Former Pakistani cricketers lashes Babar Azam

Gautam Gambhir is not the only name who went harsh on Babar Azam, even his country’s former cricketers had the same opinion. Legendary pacer Wasim Akram narrated an incident when he asked Babar to bat at No.3 to let Martin Guptill open the innings. However, he refused to sacrifice his position and let the team down.

“I have been through this by the way with Babar, at Karachi Kings. In the team we had a couple of bad phases and I requested him once or twice nicely, that please come down at number 3, we’ll try something different. Let (Martin) Guptill bat at the top, seeing he is an opener. And he (Babar) said I would not go down, you ask Sharjeel to bat at 3, and he (Sharjeel) is a natural opener too. And these little things that the captain does, the team senses too,” he said.

With two losses in three games, the Men in Green are almost out of the race for the semifinals. They will next lock horns with mighty South Africa on Thursday (November 3) before playing their last group stage match against Bangladesh on Sunday (November 6).