Pakistan
batsman Imam-ul-Haq has thrown his weight behind the under-fire captain
Babar Azam
as Pakistan stare at an early exit from the
T20 World Cup
.
Pakistan's consecutive defeats against USA and India in Group A has put their campaign in disarray. The 2009 champions came back to defeat Canada and kept their hopes of reaching the 'Super 8s' alive, but their fate is no longer in their own hands alone.
T20 WORLD CUP: Schedule | Points Table
The flash floods in Florida threaten to wash out all three remaining matches in Group A, while Pakistan desperately want Ireland to beat USA before they take on the Irish team in the concluding fixture of the group.
In case of no result in the USA vs Ireland match on June 14, Pakistan will be eliminated and co-hosts USA will join India as the two teams to advance to the next stage from Group A.
Amid all those qualification scenarios, the Pakistan team and Babar Azam have been facing continuing criticism for their lackluster show, especially for losing against archrivals India from a winning position.
Pakistan batsman Ahmed Shehzad has lambasted the team's performance in no uncertain words, questionining Babar's record as a captain and as a batter in ICC tournaments. He has also taken the team to task on the selection of an unfit
Azam Khan
, who has often been body-shamed on social media for his heavyset body.
But another Pakistan batsman,
Imam ul Haq
, has come out in defence of Babar, questioning those who denounce body-shaming but don't hold themselves back from disrepsecting the captain of the national team with their harsh words.
'If the element of respect is coming in the case of Azam Khan, that do not body-shame him, then it should be the same in Babar's case as well...He has also played for Pakistan, has played 250 international matches. You showed 20 stats of him related to World Cup, but what I ask is that if he has an average of 50 in all three formats, who will answer (consider) that?" said Imam while speaking on a TV show in Pakistan.
WATCH VIDEO
'You cricitise on national TV, that's your right (because) it's the Pakistan team....but remember one thing, the element of respect should never be taken out. He (Babar) is your captain. You want to remove him from captaincy, do that, nobody has a problem with that. You don't want to consider him 'King', don't. His fans have made him, what you say doesn't matter," he added.
Babar was reinstated as Pakistan captain in the white-ball formats after he stepped down from the role following Pakistan's poor show at the ODI World Cup in India last year.
Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi replaced Babar as the skipper but lasted just a solitary series before the Paksitan Cricket Board decided to hand over the team's reins back to Babar.
So far in this T20 World Cup, Babar's knocks don't actually make for a bad reading, especially on the US tracks that haven't been conducive to batting. His top score of 44 came against USA, while he failed in the match against India, scoring 13. Against Canada, Babar made 33 runs.
"I am not justifying him (Babar)," said Imam. "He hasn't won you tournaments as a captain, that's the problem, right? So he should be asked questions. If he isn't able to do that, then do change him...but the element of respect should be there."
English (US) ·