Pakistan captain Babar Azam is enduring a tough phase in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022. On Friday, again, Babar was trolled heavily for his poor knock.
Against Sri Lanka in Dubai, even though Babar scored his highest score of this tournament – 30 – it took him 29 balls to score those 30 runs, meaning that he further compounded pressure on himself and his teammates with his slow snail-paced knock.
Babar Azam is getting mocked mercilessly for his dismal show in Asia Cup 2022
Babar Azam, who was in sublime touch before this tournament, is struggling horribly to find runs and form in this edition of the Asia Cup: the Pakistani skipper has managed scores of 10 vs India, 9 vs Hong Kong, 14 vs India, 0 vs Afghanistan in the competition, before his sluggish, counter-productive knock of 30 from 29 balls vs Sri Lanka on Friday.
Azam started off solidly with a boundary on his first ball, a gorgeous straight drive four to Dilshan Madushanka. But then it was just typical Babar Azam – not willing to take risks, playing down the intent; he didn’t another boundary for the next four overs before a thick outside edge bear thirdman to close out the powerplay.
Another period of lull followed as Azam looked to deal with singles and doubles. The pressure of his slow-go affected Fakhar Zaman, who holed out in the deep in the 10th over. And in the next over, Babar himself got bowled by Hasaranga – breaking his shackles, he stepped down and attempted a slog but the bowled deceived the Pakistani skipper who missed the ball and saw his stumps lit up.
Earlier this week, Babar lost his number 1 ICC T20I batsman ranking, displaced by his teammate and opening partner, Mohammad Rizwan, who has been in brilliant form. Ahead of the final vs Sri Lanka, signs aren’t great with Babar. However, looking at his opposite number Virat Kohli, Babar will just need to go through it and hope for this phase to pass soon.
Meanwhile, Babar Azam was mercilessly trolled on Twitter following his disappointing knock against Sri Lanka:
Practice match hai xD#PAKvsSL #BabarAzam𓃵 pic.twitter.com/c9QhO696fP
— Tehseen Qasim (@Tehseenqasim) September 9, 2022
Don’t worry guys… Captain saved his Best for the Final😃❤️..#BabarAzam𓃵 #AsiaCup2022 pic.twitter.com/NxzUqlTw1E
— Babar Ali (@babarali_456) September 9, 2022
This too shall pass. Stay strong #BabarAzam𓃵 pic.twitter.com/0QrXsqhBaE
— The Einsteins 🇵🇰 (@theeinsteinss) September 9, 2022
Babar Aazam Watching Virat Kohli’s
Performance:-#INDvsAFG #ViratKohli𓃵 #BabarAzam𓃵 pic.twitter.com/7MENNVOUDQ— Suresh Parmar® (@iamSureshParmar) September 8, 2022
“First of all, I would like to thank Babar” #ViratKohli𓃵 pic.twitter.com/bJdrmmpH0x
— 𝓢𝓮𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓱 🇵🇰 (@itsmeSehrish) September 8, 2022
Babar Azam when yet another Pakistani ex-cricketer calls him after today’s innings#PAKvsSL pic.twitter.com/TOYi0CiaY5
— Not Daniel Alexander (@_UnrealDaniel) September 9, 2022
🌟 first time bowling well Asia Cup and getting Babar!pic.twitter.com/FYw2JqReAM
— blehh (@sportscull) September 9, 2022
Ramiz Raza and Shahid Afridi called Babar before the game. Babar started like Rameez and ended like Afridi. What a star. ⭐
— ∆nkit🏏 (@CaughtAtGully) September 9, 2022
Ball hits the stumps, but bails weren’t dislodged after Babar said “Stay strong, this too shall pass” to stumps pic.twitter.com/ekVorrs6HR
— Pushkar (@musafir_hu_yar) September 9, 2022
Scenes after Babar handshake with Virat : pic.twitter.com/YKNfT3oNMk
— Aryan 🇮🇳 (@iAryan_Sharma) September 9, 2022
After Babar’s dismissal, the Men In Green suffered one of their famous collapses as they went from 63/1 to 121 all out and couldn’t play out the entire 20 overs. Hasaranga snapped two more wickets after Babar while Madhushan and Theekshana bagged a brace each.
