Indian World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir lambasted Pakistan skipper Babar Azam over his batting approach in the ODI World Cup, which puts more pressure on the other batters in the team, according to cricket-turned-commentator. The 29-year-old looked undercooked so far in the tournament failing to make an impact for his team.
Pakistan served up one of the biggest upsets of the World Cup on Monday, as they were no match to Afghanistan losing the game by eight wickets at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. Babar Azam-led side faced their third straight defeat in the competition as they had lost their previous two matches against Australia and India.
Speaking on Star Sports, Gautam Gambhir feels that Babar Azam and Co. is under tremendous pressure in the ongoing ODI World Cup with back-to-back defeats in the tournament and believes that Pakistan still has got the ability to set the event on fire despite the poor start to his campaign.
“Babar Azam is under pressure, the entire team is under pressure. Babar has to deliver because he has the reputation, he has class, and he has the ability. I picked Babar Azam in the top 5, I backed him to score 3-4 centuries on the pitches in India. Babar has the ability to do it even now,” Gautam Gambhir said.
Babar Azam has not lived up to expectations so far in World Cup 2023, managing to score just 157 runs in five matches. The Pakistan skipper could not guide the batting unit to post a total of over 300 in the game against India and Afghanistan despite having a good start to their innings.
Babar Azam Has To Score Runs And Make His Team Win – Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir feels that Babar Azam needs to score big runs and play impactful knocks for his side in the World Cup and asserted that his performance with the bat against India put more pressure on the other batters in the team Gambhir urged Azam to lead the team from the front if they want to play an aggressive style of cricket and advance to the World Cup’s final four.
“He has to score runs and make his team win because if he scored 50 off 60 or 70 balls or scored 80 off 120 balls, there is no use. The way he played against India, gave me the impression that he put more pressure on the rest of the batting unit and he did not release the pressure”.
“If you want the team to play aggressive cricket, you have to lead from the front. Babar has to play freely, he has to play out-of-the-box cricket, and even out-of-the-box captaincy if Pakistan is to make the semi-final,” Gautam Gambhir added.
Babar Azam looked to be in great shape during his 74-run performance against Afghanistan but fell short of scoring his first century in the 2023 World Cup being dismissed by Noor Ahmed in the 42nd over.
Afghanistan batters stood tall in the chase to register their first victory over the Men in Green in Chennai and to register their second victory in the ongoing ODI World Cup.
