'Babar Azam hasn't played any impactful innings'

Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir continued his tirade against Pakistan captain Babar Azam following the Green Shirts’ agonizing loss to South Africa in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 fixture at Chennai.

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Babar Azam was dismissed right after scoring a half-century against the Proteas. The batter’s leadership skills came into question during South Africa’s chase of 271 runs.

In the 48th over, the Protas required five runs to win with just a wicket in hand.

As the match hung in balance, Babar Azam introduced Mohammad Nawaz to bowl instead of Usama Mir who had two overs left and taken two crucial wickets.

Proteas spinner Keshav Maharaj struck the left-arm spinner for a boundary to secure a win.

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Gautam Gambhir, who was part of the India side that won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and World T20 in 2007, lambasted Babar Azam with his scathing comments. The batter, on a India sports channel, said the Pakistan captain has not played an impact innings and a player can only be called number one if he is a match-winner.

“Babar Azam hasn’t played any impactful inning,” he said. “Records and rankings are overrated. The real No.1 is the one who wins matches.”

Moreover, he called on the Pakistan team to work on its fitness and their fielding is below par as compared to that of the other nine teams in the tournament.

“First thing that Pakistan needs to work after the World Cup is their fitness – there is a huge difference between Pakistan and other nine teams in the fielding,” he added.

It is not the first time Gautam Gambhir went on a tirade against Babar Azam. Previously, he had called him a “selfish captain”. He had said a captain needs to bring changes when things are not going according to plan.