Former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria has come hard on Pakistan’s premier batter Babar Azam following his gloomy performances in the ongoing Champions Trophy. Babar Azam made 64 off 90 balls in Pakistan’s opening match against New Zealand and managed to bring up 23 in their match against India.
Kaneria hit out at Babar Azam for his dismal innings and showing a lack of intent in his game. He also lambasted Babar for scoring against small teams and failing against big teams. Babar Azam, meanwhile, has been unable to score a century since August 2023. Since 2023, he has scored 1442 runs in 35 innings at an average of 45.06 and a strike rate of 82.49,
"Babar has not scored runs for so long But when he scores, it is against Zimbabwe or against smaller teams. If he scores against big teams. So, there is no intent at all,” Kaneria told ANI.
Kaneria also raised questions on skipper Mohammad Rizwan’s batting performance.
"There is no depth in the batting. Salman Agha and Khushdil Shah make some contributions sometimes. Saud Shakeel is a technically correct batter. But Rizwan's bat seems to have stopped working. When the Champions Trophy squad was announced, one could see it getting eliminated pretty soon out of the tournament," he added.
Pakistan, meanwhile, have been knocked out of the tournament after their defeats against Australia and India. They became the first team to be knocked out of the tournament.