The last few weeks have been a merry-go-round ride for Pakistan Cricket with their 2-1 series victory against England at home, followed by the resignation of their white-ball head coach, Gary Kirsten. Among all of these circumstances, Fakhar Zaman, the opener of the Green Brigade, has also found himself under pressure, with the current scenarios of the side.
Fakhar Zaman made a tweet on the drop of Babar Azam during the second and third Test of the three-match series against England in Multan and Rawalpindi on the back of his poor form in the format for such a long time. The batter tweeted on the decision of the Pakistan Cricket Board on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter), besides drawing a comparison with Virat Kohli.
The former Indian captain went through a very tough time for the Blue Brigade since the start of 2020. Despite that, the BCCI didn’t drop the veteran and showed confidence, something which Babar didn’t receive from the PCB selectors, according to Fakhar. The whole scenario didn’t satisfy the board members.
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“It’s concerning to hear suggestions about dropping Babar Azam. If we are considering sidelining our premier batsman, arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced, it could send a deeply negative message across the team.” The left-handed opening batter wrote on his ‘X’ handle.
“There is still time to avoid pressing the panic button; we should focus on safeguarding our key players rather than undermining them.” Fakhar Zaman added in the social media platforms.
Ahmed Shehzad highlights how Fakhar Zaman was used by his fellow team-mates
On the back of the tweet, he was ignored from the squad of the upcoming Australia and Zimbabwe series, as the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi confirmed during the press conference where they revealed Mohammad Rizwan as the new captain of the limited-overs format. Besides that, the 34-year-old has been struggling with fitness since returning from the Caribbean.
The former opening batter of the Green Brigade, Ahmed Shehzad, has clarified that the agent of the Mardan-born is the same as Babar and Rizwan. That agent pushed Zaman to make that tweet, which has put him in this situation at the moment.
“Now the issue is that the agent of both Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam is the same. Mohammad Rizwan also has the same agent. All of them have the same agent. That person, somehow, made Fakhar tweet. Now, because he has been dropped from the squad and lost his central contract, will be tweeted from the accounts of the other two players?” Shehzad expressed this in a video shared on his ‘X’ handle.
The veteran has smashed 3492 runs in 82 ODIs at an average of over 46 and a strike rate of 93 with the help of 16 half-centuries and 11 centuries at a best score of unbeaten 210 runs. In the shortest format, the batter has gathered 1848 runs in 84 innings at a strike rate of over 130, shouldering on 11 half-centuries.
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“That’s the question. So, I believe Fakhar Zaman must have been crying at the moment about whatever had happened to him because he had been played. His own persons have used him in the entire incident. Remember that!! He may have understood the whole scenario a few days later, but he has used it in the hands of his near ones.” Shehzad shed light.
“Now for Fakhar, none of the other centrally contracted players will be tweeting like that he has done for someone else.” The 32-year-old concluded.