“Stuck In Their Comfort Zones” – Pakistan Speed-star Blames Compatriots For Their Lacklustre Show In T20 World Cup

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan

Pakistan’s bowling ace Mohammad Amir has blamed captain Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan for their failure to shine in the T20 world cup so far. In a latest interview, the former fast bowling spearhead vented his frustration regarding the lacklustre form of the two Pakistani openers. Both Babar and Rizwan, who are considered as the top batters among their contemporaries in T20’s, have failed miserably against both India and Zimbabwe. They have faced criticism from a number of former cricketers and now Amir has joined the bandwagon.

Amir has also slammed former captain and coach of Pakistan, Misbah Ul Haq, for making this change in the batting lineup and promoting Rizwan up the order to bat alongside Babar. He replaced Fakhar Zaman, who has been labelled as the best T20 opener in Pakistan team by the left arm pacer. Fakhar has been kept on the bench in the first two matches.

Amir said, “Rizwan started opening when Misbah-ul-Haq was coach and dropped Fakhar Zaman to No 3, who was Pakistan’s best T20I opener. A good player can bat anywhere. But Rizwan can’t bat at No5 so they made Fakhar a scapegoat. Both the openers have their limitations as openers and they don’t want to come out of their comfort zone.”

While Amir left no stone unturned in criticising the Pakistani team, he certainly wasn’t the only one. A former Pakistan legend has openly criticised the team, and highlighted Babar Azam’s captaincy as a major issue.

Pakistan Legend Lambasts Babar For Poor Captaincy

Earlier, former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar also took Babar Azam to the sword. He slammed him for not being able to lead his team to victory against minnows Zimbabwe in their second match of the tournament. According to him, Babar’s captaincy has not been upto the mark and he has not been able to play as per his potential.

Akhtar focused on Babar’s decision to bowl Mohammad Nawaz towards the end of the innings. He also pointed out that the main weapon in Pakistan’s bowling arsenal, Shaheen Shah Afridi, has looked past his best, which might be due to his lack of fitness.

Speaking about Pakistan’s poor performance on his YouTube channel, Akhtar lamented, “I don’t know why is it so hard for you guys to understand. I have said this before, and I am saying it again that with our top and middle-order, we can achieve big success. We can’t win consistently. Pakistan have a bad captain. Pakistan are out of the World Cup. Nawaz has bowled the last over in the three games we have lost.”

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After their disastrous start to the tournament, Pakistan are set to take on the Netherlands in their next match in the T20 world cup. With their top order and bowling attack stuttering, it will be a tough test for the Men in Green to re-establish their position as one of the favourites to win the tournament this year.

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