Mohammad Hafeez, a former all-rounder for Pakistan, has launched a vicious attack on Babar Azam following the Green Army’s painful loss to Team India, led by Rohit Sharma, in the Super 12 round of the ICC World T20 2022 on Sunday. At the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Virat Kohli scored a brilliant innings to help India avoid a catastrophic top-order collapse as Rohit and company defeated Pakistan by a single run (MCG).
Babar made the mistake of saving Mohammad Nawaz for the 20th over, as the Pakistani bowler was unable to hold on to 16 runs off the final six balls of the enthralling match between the two longtime rivals at the MCG. Former all-rounder Hafeez criticised the Pakistani team after their demoralising loss to longtime rivals India and questioned the captain’s qualifications. Hafeez was invited as a guest speaker on a well-known Pakistani channel, where he attacked Babar and made the case that the premier batter’s leadership could not be criticised within the context of cricket.
“The captaincy of Babar Azam is inviolable, like a sacred cow. We are witnessing Babar’s captaincy shortcomings for the third straight important game, but we are told that by the time he is 32 years old, he will catch on. Why didn’t Babar complete the required number of spin overs in today’s game between the seventh and eleventh overs, when India was failing to score even four runs each over?” Hafeez told Rahi Cricket.
Despite Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik being taken out by Nawaz in the final over, India won the match spectacularly with to Kohli’s brilliant innings in the high-stakes match. On the last ball of the match, middle-order batsman Ravichandran Ashwin scored the winning run to give India a four-wicket victory against their mortal rivals. Kohli, who scored 82 runs off of 53 balls was the Man of the Match.
“Our bowlers did a great job. All praise goes to Pandya and Kohli. With the new ball, it wasn’t simple. After 10 overs, partnerships were formed. It was our chance. We made an effort to follow our plans. But Virat Kohli deserves praise. We held the spinner back in the middle after deciding that we wanted a wicket. We experienced many advantages. The manner in which Shan and Iftikhar played, “Babar, the captain of Pakistan, spoke after the game.