Babar Azam announces Test retirement after series loss to Bangladesh?

Social media was abuzz after alleged posts from Babar Azam announcing his retirement from Test cricket went viral, following Pakistan’s 2-0 series loss to Bangladesh.

The right-handed batter has been under fire for his poor performance in the series, where Bangladesh secured a clean sweep against the hosts. As Pakistan struggled in the final Test, multiple posts attributed to Babar began circulating online.

One of the viral posts claimed that the Pakistan white-ball captain had retired from Test cricket, while another criticised his technique and statistics after his removal from the Test captaincy. 

However, it was later confirmed that these posts originated from parody accounts on the social media platform X. Babar's official accounts on X and Instagram did not contain any such announcements.

The first fake retirement post appeared on an X account named “Jay Shah (parody),” which falsely claimed Babar Azam had retired from Test cricket. 

Another misleading post from an account titled “Babar Azam – Parody” further fuelled the false narrative, reinforcing that the statements were not from Babar himself.

Babar's struggles in the Test series were apparent as he managed just 64 runs across four innings at an average of 16. He was dismissed for a duck in the first innings of the opening Test and scored 22 in the second. In the second Test, his scores were 31 and 11 in the first and second innings, respectively.

The batter has faced increasing scrutiny for his recent Test performances, amassing only 317 runs in eight matches in 2023, with a highest score of 41. 

His last Test century was against New Zealand in Karachi in December 2022, adding to the mounting pressure on the Pakistan captain.