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Ahmed Shehzad, a former champion of the T20 World Cup, expressed discontent with Pakistan’s skipper, Babar Azam, regarding the team’s preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA. Shehzad pointed out Babar Azam’s inability to lead Pakistan to a significant title despite his leadership role in recent years.
Babar Azam faced removal from the captaincy after Pakistan’s early exit in the ODI World Cup 2023. Despite this setback, the 29-year-old batsman was reinstated as captain before the T20I series against New Zealand in April. However, Pakistan struggled to leave a mark during Azam’s second stint as captain.
The Pakistan team endured a demoralizing 2-0 series loss to England in their recent bilateral series played away from home. Led by Jos Buttler, the England cricket team convincingly outperformed Pakistan. Notably, Pakistan did not engage in any warm-up matches before entering the T20 World Cup tournament.
We Surely Talk About Cricket – Ahmed Shehzad
In a popular video from a Pakistani talk show, Ahmed Shehzad issued a challenge to Babar Azam, urging him to lead the team to victory in the T20 World Cup 2024. Shehzad stressed that the existing group of players has had multiple opportunities to showcase their abilities. He emphasized the importance of adopting a different approach for the team.
“It will be morning if I start talking about their (Pakistan cricketers) discipline. But we have never said anything to anybody, but we surely talk about cricket. If you say you are a prime player, if you say no one is bigger than you, then win the World Cup. You’ve got five tournaments. And the way they are taking these things, we have to tell to everybody,” Shehzad said.
Babar Azam successfully guided the Pakistan cricket team to the knockout stage in the previous two T20 World Cup tournaments. In the last edition, the team made it to the final match but unfortunately faced defeat against England in Melbourne. It’s worth noting that Pakistan’s last victory in the T20 World Cup came back in 2009, led by Younis Khan.
We Could And Should Have Won – Babar Azam
In a podcast organized by the PCB, Babar Azam talked about Pakistan’s defeats to India and Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup 2022. The captain expressed his disappointment for not emerging victorious against India and emphasized that the loss to Zimbabwe was especially difficult for him to accept.
“For me, in 2022, we could and should have won the India game, but they took it away. The most hurtful was the defeat against Zimbabwe. It hurts more because we had played good cricket against India and people were praising our performance and fightback,” Babar Azam stated.
Nevertheless, Babar Azam shared his enthusiasm for the upcoming T20 World Cup in 2024. Pakistan’s campaign will kick off with a match against the USA at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Thursday, June 6. Following that, they will go head-to-head with India at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on June 9.
