(AP Photo)

The Pakistan cricket team has come under scrutiny after their premature exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup. Led by Babar Azam, the team suffered defeats in their initial two matches, including a surprising loss to USA and a narrow defeat against arch-rivals India.

Although Pakistan managed to secure a victory against Canada, it was not enough as USA’s performance allowed them to advance alongside India from Group A to the Super Eight stage.

Babar Azam, who struggled to make an impact with the bat, is also facing criticism regarding his leadership.

Despite the concerns raised about Babar’s captaincy, legendary all-rounder Shahid Afridi acknowledges that while the questions are valid, Babar has been the most consistent performer for Pakistan.

“Fellow cricket lovers on social media should criticise Babar’s captaincy but consistent players like him are rare in Pakistan cricket,” Afridi said on his YouTube channel. “Babar’s individual performances have been good. Yeah, it’s true he hasn’t been able to perform in the world cup.”

Afridi has expressed his longstanding wish for Babar to evolve into a match-winner akin to India’s batting sensation Virat Kohli, who transformed himself into one over the course of his illustrious career.

“I’ve always wished to see Babar emerge as a matchwinner like we talk about Virat Kohli. He wasn’t a matchwinner from day 1 but he has developed himself,” he said.

Afridi believes that the choice to reappoint Babar as T20I captain, despite not demonstrating improvement during his initial tenure, was a mistake.

“Babar Azam is being criticised. It happens because he’s the captain. I am an admirer of Babar (but) he’s been given 3-3.5 years as captain and there hasn’t been any eye-catching result nor there has been any improvement. The first question to the selection committee is that when he didn’t show any improvement (before), (why) he was reappointed as captain? As a player we have never criticised Babar but only his captaincy. A leader’s decision matters a lot – it can change the outcome of a match, a captain should be able to engage with players. So these are few things Babar has been unable to improve on,” Afridi said.

“This question has to be asked (to the selection committee) why Babar was reappointed as captain. Mohammad Rizwan was the next best option after Babar. Rizwan has a positive body language, doesn’t indulge in blame game,” he added.

Afridi additionally believes that Babar should have supported Shaheen Afridi, who was leading Pakistan in T20Is before being abruptly removed just before the World Cup.

“I think when the decision to appoint Shaheen as captain till the world cup was taken then Babar should have shown his support. He should have backed him and taken a stance. Babar’s respect would have risen. That didn’t happen but I won’t blame Babar for this. Selection committee is responsible,” he said.

There are rumors circulating about Pakistan’s team management contemplating widespread changes following their disappointing World Cup performance. However, Afridi argues that such a decision would not be feasible, as there are no high-quality replacements available for players of Babar and Rizwan’s caliber.

What I am hearing is that 8-9 players will be removed,” Afridi said. “You can only do that when there are ready replacements. If you are thinking of removing Babar as a player, do they have a performer like him? Do they have someone like Rizwan?”

“You have to start respecting your domestic players who play entire year and produce (consistent) performances. If we ignore that and bring in someone on the basis of one-two performances then we are being unfair to them (domestic players). Send players like Azam Khan and Saim Ayub to domestic cricket and ask them to play for 2 straight years. This (talk) should come from the selection committee.”

Afridi also urged fans on social media to refrain from resorting to personal criticism against Babar.

“I request to users on social media to avoid making personal and insulting remarks against Babar. He needs our support,” he said.