Former India cricketer opines Babar Azam doesn't deserve a place in Pakistan's T20I team

Babar Azam has been the centre of attraction since the start of the T20 World Cup 2024, for fans and experts had high expectations of him. He is Pakistan’s best batter and should have carried the team with his bat and led from the front.

However, Babar endured another mediocre ICC campaign, for he didn’t score big and quick when the team actually required his services. As always, Babar was among the runs for his team, but his strike rate issue didn’t improve, and the extreme pitches in New York exposed his old method severely.

Babar failed to bat according to the required tempo and kept batting in his own slow style, which again didn’t favour his team. In T20s, Babar’s runs often form a negative impact knock, for he can’t up to the ante at any point in the innings, piling the pressure on other batters.

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Even when he scores runs, his strike rate remains substandard, even on pleasant batting decks, and his team has to face consequences. Despite playing ample match-losing innings, Babar hasn’t changed his method, and his partnership with Mohammad Rizwan has taken the team nowhere.

Virender Sehwag opines Babar Azam doesn't deserve a place in Pakistan's T20I team

On Cricbuzz, Virender Sehwag expressed his opinion on Babar Azam, stating he should demote himself if he can’t score quickly. He also feels Babar doesn’t deserve to be in the XI if he is not the captain.

“But as a leader, you have to think whether this game is useful for his team. If not, then demote yourself and send someone who can play big shots in the six overs and get the team 50–60 runs. I may sound harsh, but if the captain changes, Babar doesn’t deserve a place in the T20 team. His performances are not as per the demands of today’s T20 cricket.”

Pakistan crashed out of the tournament in the initial phase, and Babar’s game definitely had a massive role to play. Despite receiving numerous criticism, he didn’t work on his strike rate and boundary-hitting ability.

He also played a lot of dot balls in the middle, which didn’t help since Babar wasn’t covering them by hitting boundaries, either. Babar has to change his method if he wants to put his team in commanding positions in T20s and help them win more games.

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