The decision to have Babar Azam bat at No.4 in the T20 World Cup ruffled a few feathers in Pakistan. The move never worked out, and the batter had a tournament to forget, as he struggled to force the pace in the 20-team competition. The former Pakistan captain was then not sent out to bat in the must-win match against Namibia in the group stage, and was also dropped for the Super 8s tie against Sri Lanka, where the Green Shirts needed to win by at least 65 runs to qualify for the semi-finals.
Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali has now stated that Babar should have openly revolted against the decision of having to bat at No.4, saying he should have put his foot down and challenged the decision of head coach Mike Hesson.
Basit gave the example of Virat Kohli, claiming that the Indian great retired from Tests because he was not given the captaincy after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman don’t have a voice. How come they agreed to bat in the middle order?” said Basit on the ‘Game Plan’ show.
“I just have one example. Virat Kohli was not made the captain, he said, ‘Okay bye’. Virat Kohli. He took the retirement; he should have been made the captain for the England series. He was told that you are not in our scheme of things as far as captaincy goes. He said, ‘Okay, tata, bye-bye.’ He doesn’t have a shortage of money. Babar should not have accepted the decision to bat at No.4. If I were his close aide, I would have told him to refuse. You just threw him under the bus,” he added.
Speaking about Virat’s retirement, he bid adieu to Tests in May last year. However, no one has publicly stated that he made the decision after being refused the captaincy. After Rohit Sharma and Virat’s retirement, Shubman Gill was made the Test captain, and under his reign, India drew the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England.
Kamran Akmal disagrees
However, former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal disagreed with Basit, stating that it is not easy for players to go against the team management when form is not there.
“No player dares to go against the team management. I have just seen Younis Khan being adamant about his position. As a player, you just cannot say that. You will be thrown into the sidelines if you say such things,” said Akmal.
“When the form is not there, no player says such things. Before the Champions Trophy, his form was not there. He had left the captaincy. Big players even agree to such things. The form is very important. When form is not there, a batter would even agree to bat at No.8,” he added.
