Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt is not happy with the captaincy of Babar Azam in the 20-20 World cup 2022, who also had a disappointing tournament with the bat. Babar finished the tournament with 124 runs in seven matches with an average of 17.71 and a strike rate of 93, which drew a lot of criticism from the fans.
Butt, who admitted to Babar’s excellence with the bat, also claimed that a great batter need not necessarily be a great skipper. Further, the former Pakistani batter said that Babar had enough chances to take proper decisions, but the talented batter failed to do so.
“It’s not necessary that if a player is brilliant, he will be an excellent skipper too. There were a lot of instances where decisions could have been taken differently but weren’t,” Butt said on a YouTube channel.
The former skipper said that Babar has to question himself now about continuing as captain in the shortest format, “Babar being the best player of the team and the skipper, he should question himself if I am able to carry on and deliver results,” Butt added.
Pakistan’s dramatic journey in the 20-20 World cup 2022
After losing back-to-back games to India and Zimbabwe, and also with India losing against South Africa, Pakistan managed to qualify for the semis, although, at the time, it seemed as if an early World Cup exit was inevitable. The Men in Green had a bit of luck on course to reach the final as Netherlands opened the doors for the Asian side to the knockouts as the Dutch beat South Africa in Super 12. Following a comprehensive win in the semis, they reached the finals.
Premier pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi sustained an injury during the final as he landed awkwardly while taking Harry Brook’s catch.
“When Shaheen returned from injury, he did not look completely fit in the first couple of games. However, as the tournament progressed, he got better. He got his pace and swing back and started troubling the batsmen and contributed with wickets at the start. Talking about finals, the decision to change Shaheen after his couple of overs wasn’t the correct call, especially since his spells with the new ball are more lethal than with an old ball,” he added.
