Former New Zealand cricketer-turned-commentator Simon Doull is facing flak from Babar Azam’s fans after he criticised him for not putting his team first during ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023. Doull had criticised Azam for taking too many deliveries when he neared his maiden PSL century Peshawar Zalmi’s clash against Quetta Gladiators on March 8.
One of the fans sent a direct message to Doull using crass language towards his late mother and . The 53-year-old shared a screenshot of the message and shared it on Instagram with caption saying, ““So sorry to have upset you Feroz. It’s just an opinion and I get paid for it. It’s ok if you don’t agree but this language is never ok. And my mother has also passed.”
While some fans took a toxic route to express their disappointment over Azam's criticism, he received support from former England cricketer and commentator Alex Harley and former Pakistan cricketer Sana Mir as well.
The abuse started when Azam took too many deliveries according to match situation to get from 80 to his century.
“The last little while, that [hitting singles] is all that has been happening rather than looking for boundaries still, when you’ve got so much firepower to come,” he said. “Hundreds are great, stats are brilliant, but it still must be team first.”
Earlier, Doull had also criticised Mohammad Rizwan for not being able to score quickly and suggested that he should retire out himself to make way for big-hitters. The Multan Sultans skipper was scoring at a strike rate of 109. However, he did go on to get a century against Karachi Kings but Doull did not take his words back.
“I hate to say it, but he’s just got to get off,” he said. “He’s striking at 109, you’ve got enormous power to come, just leave the field, chief. You are the skipper, do the right thing by your team. You can’t run the twos quickly. You’re not helping your mate at the other end. I’d say just go off, get treatment, you’ve done your job.”
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