“Please leave captaincy”: Shoaib Malik to Babar Azam after Pakistan’s loss to India

Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik made an attack on captain Babar Azam and the batting approach of the Pakistan players after their six-run loss to India in the T20 World Cup 2024.

After their bowlers bowled out India for only 119 runs, and they had six wickets in hand while needing 40 runs off 35 balls, Pakistan’s extraordinary collapse during the chase drew criticism from many former players.

“I have been saying for a long time, please leave captaincy. You are a class player, and you will only be able to show your class when you do not have additional responsibilities on you. If Babar stays away from captaincy, it will be good for him,” Shoaib Malik said on Ten Sports.

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Malik was also critical of Pakistan’s batting performance, especially from 2 of their senior players- Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.

“People keep talking about Babar and Rizwan’s strike rates, so you brought in Saim Ayub,” Malik said.

“Yesterday, it was a 120 chase, why were you trying to improve your strike rate yesterday? The platform was set in every manner. If as a leader and a batter, your brain does kick-in, in these sorts of situations, when will it? I am forced to say today that the core of this team, in the T20I format, I think we have to stop backing them,” Malik added.

Pakistan will be facing Canada in their next group stage fixture at the Nassau County stadium in New York on Tuesday. If they lose again then it will be all over for their World Cup campaign. They have no choice but to win and that too by a big margin.