The former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has regretted trolling the current Pakistan Men’s team captain for the T20Is, Babar Azam, by making a comparison of him and the legend of the game- the former West Indies captain Brian Lara, during a recent show.
Under Babar Azam’s captaincy, the green brigade failed to make their progression into the ‘super eight’ stage of the Men’s T20 World Cup, as they were knocked out from the group stage after failing to get the better of India and the co-host United States of America.
Questions were raised on the performances of the national team’s captain and how he gets slowed down during the powerplay phase of the innings, which generally puts pressure on the rest of the players to generate power toward the end of the innings. And the same story continued between him and the veteran opening batter Mohammad Rizwan during the recent 20-over ICC event.
‘Undoubtedly, Babar Azam is the number one batter for Pakistan’- Kamran Akmal
The former Pakistan wicket-keeper batter Kamran Akmal feels that Babar Azam is the number one batter for the side, as he has celebrated so many hundreds for the side.
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In a recent show in India, the discussion was about choosing players between two options, and when the presenter gave the options of the right-handed opening batter and Lara, the former India spinner Harbhajan Singh busted into laughter and made fun of the batter, making the comparison of the two batters.
However, during the ongoing World Championship of the Legends, the two former players of the two sides, Kamran Akmal and Harbhajan Singh were seen to be discussing a matter at the end of the game between India Legends and Pakistan Legends.
At the end of the affair, Akmal came and spoke about how there should not be any comparison made between two players who have played the game in two different eras.
‘You see what happened regarding Babar Azam. The funny things were spoken. There is no doubt that Babar is a number one batter form the Pakistan team, scoring so many hundreds.’ The veteran expressed to the reporters. ‘Obviously, there is no match in the class of Babar Azam and Brian Lara, and there should not be any comparison.’
He felt that being themselves cricketers, they should not make fun of the current players, and Harbhajan Singh has expressed his regret in trolling Babar Azam.
‘As a player, we shouldn’t make fun of these players. So I just had a little conversation regarding that.’ The 2009-T20 World Cup winning member of the Pakistan side added. ‘You will find out what was discussed and he too felt regretted of such behavior.’
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When it comes to the shortest format of the game, Babar has notched up 4145 runs in 116 innings, at an average of 41.03, with a strike rate of 129.08, along with celebrating 36 fifties and three centuries for the side, and is at the moment the third highest run-getter of the format, behind Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
The Lahore-born batter has also celebrated 10942 runs in T20s in 293 innings, at an average of 44 and a strike rate of nearly 130, with 90 half-centuries and 11 hundred, with a best of 122. There are questions over the captaincy of Babar Azam, and it will be interesting to see what the future unfolds. They will face Australia in their next T20I series towards the end of this year.