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Babar Azam lost his cool during a Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match during Rangpur Riders and Durdanto Dhaka on January 27. Babar Azam was provoked into a heated exchange with Dhaka's wicket-keeper Irfan Sukkur, who was sledging him on the field. This occurred in the 13th over of the first innings. Durdanto Dhaka's bowler Arafat Sunny removed Rangpur Riders' batsman Nurul Hasan for 26 off 24 balls on the third delivery of the over. During this interval, Irfan Sukkur's sledging infuriated Babar, leading to a sharp verbal confrontation. Known for his usually composed demeanor, and having never been involved in on-field disputes in international cricket, Babar was visibly agitated and engaged in the argument.
Despite attempts by the umpires and an opposing fielder to soothe Babar, he remained focused on his game. He went on to score an impressive 62 runs from 46 balls, hitting five fours and one six to help his team win the match 79 runs.
The Rangpur Riders set a challenging first-innings target of 183/8 against Durdanto Dhaka. Their innings had a setback early on when opener Brandon King was dismissed for 20 runs by Dhaka's Taskin Ahmed. Rony Talukdar also returned to the pavilion quickly, scoring 11 runs off 7 balls.
Captain Nurul Hasan then formed a 50-run partnership with Babar Azam for the third wicket. Following Hasan's departure, Babar continued to bolster the innings, putting up a 39-run stand in just 21 balls with Azmatullah Omarzai for the fifth wicket. After Babar's wicket, Omarzai and Shamin Hossain added a swift 35 runs from 14 balls. Omarzai's quickfire cameo yielded 32 runs from 15 balls.
2023 proved to be a challenging year for Babar Azam, both in his roles as a batter and captain. He struggled to find form in international cricket, failing to live up to his potential for Pakistan. Babar found it particularly tough to rack up runs against top-tier teams like India, Australia, and England, whereas he used to notch up centuries against lower-ranked teams such as Nepal.
His underwhelming performances significantly impacted Pakistan's international cricket stature. The team's disappointing showings in the Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup, including losses to lower-ranked teams, were cause for concern. Following these setbacks, Babar also relinquished his captaincy across all three formats after the poor performance in the CWC 2023. Despite these difficulties, Babar showed signs of improvement, although he still struggled to convert promising starts into substantial hundreds.
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