Former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif did not leave any stone unturned while criticising the Babar Azam-led squad for the ODI World Cup 2023 in India. Asif who was regarded as one of the greatest swing bowlers of his time feels that he can still bowl a maiden over to Babar in T20 cricket.
“I can bowl a maiden over to Babar Azam in T20 cricket even today, he cannot hit the ball if you bowl good deliveries to him,” Asif said on Twitter spaces.
The Pakistan skipper was off-colour in the ODI Asia Cup 2023 barring the century against minnows Nepal in home conditions. As a result, co-hosts Pakistan could not make it into the final.
To make matters worse, Pakistan lost the services of their young pacer Naseem Shah before the World Cup. In Shah’s absence, Hasan Ali has been picked in the squad. Asif believes that all the bowlers are ordinary and he alleged that Ali’s selection is because of his closeness with Babar.
“Hasan Ali is part of the lobby, he eats with Babar Azam and other players. He is in the team because he is part of the lobby, this used to be the case when we used to play too. A lobby doesn't select players from outside," the tainted Pakistan pacer said.
Asif's allegations continued as he said that former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi is pushing for his son-in-law Shaheen to take over the reins.
“We don't have a choice right now to replace Babar Azam as captain. Shahid Afridi is trying for Shaheen Afridi to become captain, but it's not easy," he said.
The 40-year-old was overly critical of Agha Salman who could not do much with the bat in the Asia Cup as well. He went on to say that Salman is a waste of a player and doesn’t perform when the team needs him to.
I don't consider Agha Salman as a player, he's a waste of time. Even I can score the number of runs he scores. He only scores when Pakistan has already scored a lot of runs as a team," he said.
Pakistan will begin their World Cup campaign against minnows Netherlands on October 6 in Hyderabad.
Pakistan squad for World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Hasan Ali
Travelling Reserves: Abrar Ahmed, Zaman Khan, and Mohammad Haris
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