Pakistan captain Babar Azam has long dominated the ICC T20I rankings as the No.1 ranked batter and broken records at will. However, the star opener has been subject to recent criticism owing to his batting strike rate, along with Mohammad Rizwan, which critics claim is the primary reason behind Pakistan's struggle in T20I format. However Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja has lashed out at these criticisms which has left him furious as he made a big Virat Kohli statement to respond to critics.
Speaking to Samaa TV during an interview, Ramiz admitted that Pakistan team did not perform well in the Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka where they were the favourites, but opined that the criticisms against the side has been a bit too harsh.
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Explaining his point of view, Ramiz said that when Kohli had scored a century against Afghanistan, Indian fans and media had forgotten about their entire Asia Cup campaign where they had failed to reach the final despite being the overwhelming title favourites. The veteran cricketer feels that Pakistan fans wouldn't have done the same had Babar scored a ton and would have instead criticised him by comparing his strike rate.
“Previously we used to falter at the very first hurdle. Yes we reached the final and yes we did not play well. But it's okay to have a bad day. But there were others teams as well in the Asia Cup. I mean then India should then have been severely criticised for not reaching the final. But that is not what their fans and media do. I'll tell you...when Virat Kohli scored a century against Afghanistan, they forgot their entire Asia Cup. Will we ever do that? What we say is that Babar Azam scored a ton, but his strike rate was 135 while David Warner's was 147.3. So this is useless,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Previously we used to falter at the very first hurdle. Yes we reached the final and yes we did not play well. But it's okay to have a bad day. But there were others teams as well in the Asia Cup. I mean then India should then have been severely criticised for not reaching the final. But that is not what their fans and media do. I'll tell you...when Virat Kohli scored a century against Afghanistan, they forgot their entire Asia Cup. Will we ever do that? What we say is that Babar Azam scored a ton, but his strike rate was 135 while David Warner's was 147.3. So this is useless,” he said.
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