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Pakistan cricketer Umar Akmal blamed former captain Babar Azam for the current state of the Pakistan cricket team. He alleged Babar for not building the bench strength during his nearly five-year tenure at the helm.
Pakistan who are currently in a major global tournament for the first time in nearly three decades, made a disappointing start to their Champions Trophy campaign. They have lost their opener clash against New Zealand and after that humiliating loss, there are threat looms over their chances of qualifying for the semifinals.
Umar who last featured for Pakistan in 2019 slammed Babar Azam's captaincy, he accused the batter of lacking vision.
“Babar was captain for nearly five years most of the time in all formats and he never tried to build up the bench strength due to his likes and dislikes,” Umar told a TV channel.
Babar captained Pakistan from late 2019 until late 2023 before stepping down following the 2023 World Cup. He was again appointed as captain in 2024 for white-ball formats but relinquished the role after a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign last year.
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Umar said that during a period when he was in good form and scoring runs in domestic cricket, he had approached Babar, asking for a chance to make a comeback.
"I told Babar that look give me a fair chance. You are doing well in the top order and I can be your finisher and we can win matches regularly and it will be good for Pakistan cricket," he said.
However, Umar said his request was ignored.
“He didn’t listen to me and for five years when he was captain he never bothered to try to build a strong bench because only teams with good back up players do consistently well in all formats,” he added.
Umar, who is Babar's cousin, represented Pakistan in 16 Tests, 121 ODIs, and 84 T20Is before being dropped from the national team in 2019.
