Imam defends Babar after Shehzad’s outburst

‘Remember that even in criticism, the element of respect should not be ignored’

Pakistan’s opening batter in the ODI format, Imam-ul-Haq, came to the defense of skipper Babar Azam after Ahmed Shehzad referred to Babar as a “fake king.”
Shehzad’s comments have stirred controversy, and Imam did not hold back in addressing the issue “He’s your captain, you don’t want to consider him as a captain, it’s fine. The world has made him the king, you haven’t,” Imam said.
Imam emphasized that Babar should be respected for his contributions to the team, having played 250 international matches. While he did not justify Babar’s recent lack of performance, Imam insisted that his statistics from the last 20 matches should not overshadow his achievements over the last 250 matches.
“Is there anyone who have been the number one in Pakistan’s ODI ranking as well as in the T20I,” he said.
“All of us have played for Pakistan and all of us have the right to criticize. None of us are satisfied with the team’s performance against India, but remember that the element of respect should not be ignored,” he added.
The opening batters’ remarks came in response to Shehzad’s criticism, where he compared his own statistics with Babar’s during the show on Wednesday.
“I feel I could’ve done better than those stats. But your (Babar’s) stats are worse than mine... You’ve faced 205 balls in powerplays in T20 World Cups, but you haven’t managed to hit one six!” Shehzad had said.
Babar-Rizwan should not open: Manjrekar
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed his reservations about Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan opening the innings for Pakistan in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 co-hosted by the USA and West Indies.
In a recent interview with a local news channel, Manjrekar believes that the premier batters shouldn’t be opening for the Asian giants in the 2024 edition. He welcomed Pakistan’s decision to move Babar to the No. 3 position in their previous game against Canada.
“I’m glad they have made a change in the batting order. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan can’t be opening together. Both of them were not really keen to strike early, so they put somebody else in at the top. Left-hand, right-hand combination is not such a bad thing. So some good things happening there,” Manjrekar said.