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Babar Azam-led Pakistan will walk out in the third and final Test of the series in Karachi on December 17 which will also be Azhar Ali's final Test appearance. As Ben Stokes-led side took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Test series with his ruthless approach, Babar's captaincy has been criticised by many including former cricketers.
Ahead of the Karachi Test, Babar was asked whether the captaincy has had an impact on his performance in the pre-match press conference. The question did not please him as he replied, “Aapko lagta hai meri performance pe farak pad raha hai? (Do you think it is impacting my performance?)”
The reporter tried to explain that she did not mean it like that to which Babar said that a string of injuries to their star players has resulted in losses.
“Hamne jitne Test match khele hain, hamne dominate kiya hai. Ham struggle kar rahe hain kyunki injuries kafi ho gayi hai, hamaara combination disturb hua hai jiski vajah se results nahi aa rahe. (We have dominated in both Tests. We struggled because our players got injured and it disturbed our combination. That's why we didn't get the desired results)," Babar said.
“Dono matches hamaare haath me the, ham finish nahi kar paaye. As a team, hamein kaam karna hai situation pe aur pressure me hamein cheezo ko kaise apni taraf laana hai. Aisa nahi hai ki kisi ek bande se team haar rahi hai, meri vajah se kuch aisa ho raha hai. Koshish ye hi hoti hai ki best XI khilaayi jaaye aur unse kaam liya jaaye. Players support kar rahe hain. (Both games were in our hands but we couldn't finish. As a team, we have to work on playing under pressure. It isn't as if we are losing because of one player. We always try to play our best XI and make the best use of it),” Babar further added.
The 28-year-old got out for a duck in the run chase as Pakistan lost the Multan Test by 26 runs. While Babar has struggled in the second innings, he scored a century in Rawalpindi and a half-century in Multan Test.
Now that Pakistan are all but out of the World Test Championships (WTC) 2021-23 final race, they will aim for a consolation win.
