Babar Azam will be kicked out of the Pakistan team, if he fails to score hundreds in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan, opined former pacer, Shoaib Akhtar.
Babar Azam, considered to be the best batter from Pakistan in the modern era, has been under intense scrutiny for the past few months. The elite hitter has failed to deliver for his club in all three versions of the game, prompting criticism from both fans and experts.
Babar has consistently failed and has not had a long-term impact on the squad. His bad performances have been a major reason for the Pakistan National Cricket Team’s poor performance across all formats.
Babar was recently dropped from the Test team and missed the last two games against the England National Cricket Team. This followed his poor efforts in the game’s longest format during the previous five years when he averaged under 20.
“Babar Azam will have to score three match-winning hundreds in Champions Trophy”- Shoaib Akhtar
Babar Azam then made a comeback in the white-ball series against the Australian national cricket team. He didn’t receive much opportunity to bat in the ODI series, but he fared horribly in the T20I series, with low scores in all three matches.
Shoaib Akhtar stated that, while he supports the team’s batsman, the right-hander must understand that the new management will not consider him for the T20I or even the ODI.
Shoaib Akhtar also stated that the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will be the opportunity for Babar Azam to restore his status. He emphasized that the batter needed to dominate the competition and hit three match-winning tons.
“He’s our star, I back him up, but the thing is, with the new management, with the new mindset, he has to create a neurological wiring, he has to change it, that now the new management will not consider him in T20, even for that matter of fact, even in one day.
The Champions Trophy is the time and the place where Babar needs to be on the forefront for me, for Pakistan. He should dominate and say, I have three hundreds in Champions Trophy and those are match-winning. If he does this, then he’ll come back. Otherwise, the path is going to be very difficult for him,” Akhtar said on a TV show.
New management won't consider Babar in t20s and even in odis after CT. 🧐
VC: Ptv Sports pic.twitter.com/N5MAjMT86T— صالح (@iiisaleh97) December 2, 2024
The Champions Trophy 2025 is set to be played in Pakistan from February 9 to March 19 in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi.
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