The Pakistan cricket team's journey in the World Cup 2023 ended following their defeat against England on November 11. The team faced a challenging tournament, leading to widespread scrutiny of the players, team management, and the Pakistan Cricket Board itself.
Particularly under the spotlight was captain Babar Azam, whose performance with the bat and as a leader fell short of expectations. This was surprising to many, given Azam's status as a cricketing superstar in Pakistan. During a discussion on A Sports, former Pakistan cricketer and World Cup champion Wasim Akram provided his insights on Azam's showing in the tournament.
Akram emphasised that Babar Azam should not bear the sole responsibility for the team's performance, pointing out that cricket is a team sport.
"Babar Azam is not the only one playing the match. Yes he has made mistakes while captaining the side, but he is not the only one that should be blamed. It is the fault of the entire system and only Babar Azam should not be made a scapegoat out of this. Whatever has happened in the past year is the fault of the system," Akram said on A Sports while responding to a question from Sports Tak's Vikrant Gupta.
"The players do not know who is the coach, who is going out and who is coming in. Everybody is at fault," Akram further added.
He also shared his views on what disappointed him more - Azam's captaincy or his batting. In Akram's opinion, the pressures of captaincy adversely impacted Azam's batting. He suggested that Azam needs to develop the skill of separating his role as a captain from his responsibilities as a batsman to perform effectively in both areas.
"Babar Azam is our star player, when he scores runs, the entire country feels happy, we feel proud. His captaincy has affected his performance. he has looked stressed since the Asia Cup. Babar Azam has to learn how to focus as a batter and score runs, leaving the captaincy baggage behind. It is easier said than done," Akram said on Babar Azam's captaincy.
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