Pakistan's fiasco in the ongoing ODI World Cup has put Babar Azam's captaincy in jeopardy. Right after Men in Green's narrow defeat against South Africa on Friday, October 27, former Pakistani skipper Rashid Latif dropped a bombshell with a big revelation hinting at Babar's captaincy's doomsday.
Despite setting a competitive target of 271, Pakistan seemed to have the game in the bag during the final overs when South Africa was down at 260/9. It was Shaheen Shah Afridi who scripted Pakistan's comeback despite Aiden Markram's 91-run knock. Just when things started going awry for Pakistan Shaheen cracked whip at South African batters with his exceptional bowling (3/45). Haris Rauf too chipped in with an impressive 2/62. Yet, the South African duo of Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi steadied the ship by adding a crucial 11 runs for the final wicket, steering their team to a splendid victory in just 47.2 overs. This win propelled the Proteas to top of the points table, boasting a total of 10 points in six games.
Meanwhile, with Pakistan's World Cup journey on the brink of collapse, Babar Azam's leadership strategies have come under immense scrutiny. The tide of criticism swelled when Rashid Latif shed light on an unsettling detail on the state-owned PTV sports channel, “I know for a fact that Babar has got no response from the Chairman (Zaka Ashraf) when he called and messaged from India.”
Citing reason behind Pakistan's nightmarish campaign in the World Cup he added, “The players have not got salaries… the Chairman is not responding to the captain and in these circumstances what do we expect from the team.”
A further startling revelation from Latif suggested that some of the PCB's senior officials intimated the players that their central contracts, inked before the World Cup, are now up for reassessment. Latif further insinuated that there's a specific faction within the board.
“You have to see who are the people who have been hit by this ban on surrogate advertising. Babar is being punished for his bold and principled stand on surrogate advertising before the World Cup,” Latif concluded without offering any concrete evidence to back his claims.
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