Legendary Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram has criticised star batter Babar Azam over his slow-paced inning within the opening Champions Trophy 2025 sport in opposition to New Zealand.
Opening the inning for Pakistan after being put to chase 321-run, Babar Azam discovered it arduous to center the ball whereas he additionally didn’t usually rotate the strike.
The star Pakistan batter scored 64 off 90 balls and couldn’t hit a boundary between 15 and 32 overs.
The inning has been severely criticised by followers and former Pakistan cricketers, with a number of suggesting that the slow-paced inning price Pakistan their opening sport of the Champions Trophy 2025.
Former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram was among the many cricketers who expressed their displeasure over the inning performed by Babar Azam.
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Talking on a personal TV channel, he mentioned that the previous Pakistan captain was not taking dangers regardless of being the settled batter.
“I don’t need 60 off 90 balls from my foremost participant. I’d moderately have him getting 35 off 30 balls and get out as a substitute of getting 64 off 90 balls. It’s not on nowadays,” mentioned Wasim Akram.
Akram went on to level out that vice-captain Salman Agha took dangers from the start of his inning whereas Babar Azam lacked intent to tackle the chase.
“Babar was the set batter nevertheless it was Salman who was taking the chance,” he mentioned.
Pertinent to notice right here that Pakistan registered an undesirable report throughout their sport in opposition to New Zealand within the Champions Trophy 2025, with 22/2 within the first ten overs, their lowest rating within the first powerplay in ODIs at house.
Pakistan’s prime order batters, together with Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman and captain Mohammad Rizwan performed 164 balls collectively and scored 97 runs.
These 4 gamers performed 108 dot balls within the innings, whereas the remainder of the batters performed 37 dot balls whereas dealing with 120 balls.