Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir was irked by Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s leadership following the side’s exit from the Asia Cup 2023.
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Pakistan were eliminated from the tournament after an agonizing two-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the Super Four stage fixture, a virtual semi-final.
Babar Azam got criticized for his laid-back approach, making wrong bowling decisions and fielding settings in the crucial fixture.
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Gautam Gambhir, a vocal critic of Babar Azam’s captaincy, hit out at the prolific batter for his leadership skills in an interview. The former India batter said the batter should have piled pressure by bringing bowlers that would take wickets.
“You were allowing the game to drift at one stage,” he said. “You wanted to complete your sixth bowler’s quota. It doesn’t work out like that. When the partnership was developing between Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama, you should have brought on your main bowlers and tried to pick up wickets.”
He said taking wickets was the only way Pakistan would have won the match.
“Pakistan could have won this game only by taking wickets. If Sri Lanka had batted till the end, they could have won earlier than they actually did. I feel Babar Azam will have to be slightly better in his captaincy as ODI cricket is not like T20 cricket,” he said.
Moreover, the former India cricketer said Babar Azam should have adjusted fields when Zaman Khan and Shaheen Afridi adjusted the pace of their deliveries.
“If you want to bowl slower ones, keep the mid-off fielder at long-off and bring the third man up. This is extremely simple captaincy. Imagine if you had 13 runs left in the last over, it would have been difficult for Sri Lanka,” he said.
Related – Gautam Gambhir calls Babar Azam a ‘selfish captain’
