Pakistan were pushed on the brink of a shock elimination in the 2023 World Cup earlier this week, when the side faced a comprehensive loss against Afghanistan in Chennai. Despite setting a competitive 283-run target for Afghanistan on a sluggish surface at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Pakistan conceded an 8-wicket loss as Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) provided a strong start, while his partner Ibrahim Zadran (87) held the innings together.
With Pakistan's World Cup campaign standing on the brink after the shock defeat, a host of former players tore into captain Babar Azam and other players for their poor performance in the tournament. Be it Wasim Akram, Misbah ul Haq, Ramiz Raja, Rashid Latif, Muhammad Hafeez, Aaqib Javed, Shoaib Malik, Moin Khan or Shoaib Akhtar, Babar was blamed for the run of Pakistan’s defeats against India, Australia and Afghanistan.
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And the latest to criticise Babar's captaincy is former skipper Shahid Afridi, who believes that the star batter is unable to inspire his team as a leader. Referring to Babar's on-field demeanour and his captaincy decisions, Afridi stated that there is a severe lack of motivation in the dressing room.
“When you are not in the game, when you are hiding inside a shell, when you are not positive... sometimes, I feel we keep waiting for a miracle. But miracles only happen when you know how to fight. See, captain is everything. If he puts the efforts in fielding, dives a lot, runs around and backs his boys, the team gels up and puts extra efforts. Because if the captain is putting that much efforts, his teammate would feel ashamed if he doesn't put the similar effort,” Afridi said on Samaa TV.
{{/usCountry}}“When you are not in the game, when you are hiding inside a shell, when you are not positive... sometimes, I feel we keep waiting for a miracle. But miracles only happen when you know how to fight. See, captain is everything. If he puts the efforts in fielding, dives a lot, runs around and backs his boys, the team gels up and puts extra efforts. Because if the captain is putting that much efforts, his teammate would feel ashamed if he doesn't put the similar effort,” Afridi said on Samaa TV.
{{/usCountry}}“I was captain, so was Mohammad Yousuf. If the captain wasn't doing much, no one would get the motivation. It's the captain's role to put pressure. Fast bowler is bowling, you have only 4 runs to defend, there's no slip. You don't even have a fielder at point,” said Afridi further.