The chorus around sacking Babar Azam as Pakistan's captain has only grown since Pakistan's nightmarish campaign in the World Cup 2023's which also led to their early ouster from the showpiece event. Azam's captaincy has come under strict scrutiny from various quarters, with critics pointing to his inability to lead from the front during the tournament. Pakistan, once ranked as the world's number one team and considered a World Cup favourite, fell short of expectations and exited the tournament in disappointing fashion. The 1992 World Cup champions failed to progress beyond the league stage once again, finishing their campaign with a mere four wins and five defeats, leaving them fifth in the World Cup points table. Throughout the tournament, Babar faced intense criticism for his poor captaincy which was also topped with his underwhelming batting performance adding further pressure.
Kamran Akmal advises Babar to step down as captain
In nine matches of the World Cup 2023, Babar mustered just 320 runs at an average of 40 and a strike rate of just over 80. Many cricket pundits considered his conservative batting approach as a contributing factor to Pakistan's struggles. The star batter has also been accused of favoritism in team selection. Additionally, reports suggest that the Pakistan captain has fallen out of favor with top PCB officials.
Meanwhile, Babar's cousin brother and former Pakistan's star wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal has urged Babar to relinquish captaincy. Speaking at an event, the former Pakistan cricketer stated that Babar would have to give up captaincy if he wanted to excel as a batsman in international cricket.
“‘Babar Azam is my brother and it’s my advice to him to quit captaincy. If he wants to score 25,000 international runs and if our nation wants him to do it, he has to play as a batter only,” said Kamran Akmal.
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Pakistan started their World Cup campaign on a victorious note notching wins against Netherlands and Sri Lanka. What happened next scripted their debacle. Babar's men suffered a hefty defeat at the hands of their arch-rivals India and then went on to record three more straight losses. They did made a comeback with two consecutive wins against Bangladesh and New Zealand it was too late till then. The Men in Green exited the tournament with another embarrassing loss against England in their last group stage match.
Meanwhle, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand became the four teams to make it to the World Cup 2023 semifinals. While mighty India will lock horns with resurgent New Zealand in the first semifinal on November 15, Australia will face South Africa in the other semis on November 16 in Kolkata.
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