In an incredible turnaround at the T20 World Cup on Sunday, Pakistan qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament after Netherlands stunned South Africa earlier in the day in Group 2. Pakistan required the Proteas to drop points to secure an easy way to the semis, and Netherlands inflicted a shocking upset on South Africa as they registered a 13-run win, forcing a virtual quarter-final between Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Babar Azam-led side, then, held its nerves to defeat their Asian rivals to set up a semi-final against New Zealand on Wednesday.
However, even with the side's stunning entry to the knock-out stage, there remained a concern for Pakistan - their captain Babar Azam's form. The Pakistan skipper has failed to fire in this edition of the tournament so far; after four successive single-digit scores, Babar finally ended the disappointing streak on Sunday against Bangladesh, but looked fairly out of touch as he was dismissed on 25 off 33 deliveries.
Following the match, Pakistan's legendary former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq expressed his worries over Babar's form.
“Babar ne Asia Cup me score nahi kiya tha. Par maine usko kisi bhi din nahi kaha ki vo out of form lag raha hai. Bad luck ho jaati hai batsman ki, har match me score nahi hota. Ye T20 hai aur aapke paas time kam hota hai. Lekin mujhe aaj ye dekhke ahsaas hua ki vo pitch pe khada tha, saari cheezein try kar raha tha but nahi ho paa raha tha. (Babar didn't score in Asia Cup too, but I never said tha the was out of form. Sometimes, luck doesn't favour you, it's a T20 and you have less time. But today, I realised that Babar was trying a lot of things but it just wasn't clicking for him),” Inzamam said on his official YouTube channel.
{{/usCountry}}“Babar ne Asia Cup me score nahi kiya tha. Par maine usko kisi bhi din nahi kaha ki vo out of form lag raha hai. Bad luck ho jaati hai batsman ki, har match me score nahi hota. Ye T20 hai aur aapke paas time kam hota hai. Lekin mujhe aaj ye dekhke ahsaas hua ki vo pitch pe khada tha, saari cheezein try kar raha tha but nahi ho paa raha tha. (Babar didn't score in Asia Cup too, but I never said tha the was out of form. Sometimes, luck doesn't favour you, it's a T20 and you have less time. But today, I realised that Babar was trying a lot of things but it just wasn't clicking for him),” Inzamam said on his official YouTube channel.
{{/usCountry}}“Uske saath kismat thi, agar pehla snick laga tha, agar vo catch ho jaata toh aur mushkil hoti. Uspe aur pressure aata. (He was lucky, if he had got out off his first snick, it would've been more difficult. He would've been under more pressure),” Inzamam further said.
Pakistan will be hoping for improvement in Babar's form when the side takes on New Zealand in the semi-final of the World Cup on Wednesday.