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[VIDEOS] Is Babar Azam the right choice as ODI captain for Pakistan?

Is Babar Azam the right choice as ODI captain for Pakistan?

  • Yes, he is the best person to lead Pakistan in ODIs

    Votes: 45 33.8%

  • No, not the right choice

    Votes: 88 66.2%
  • Total voters
    133
Major said:
A problem with Babar Azam's decision making is that when he is part time bowler gets hit for runs or even hit for one six, Babar panics and removes that guy from the attack.

Iftikhar Ahmad had been bowling well, was not taking wickets, but was very economical. He got his for one 6, Babar ended up removing him from bowling. He did this in a few other matches aswell. Iftikhar is getting more spin than Shadab and Usama combined, but our genius captain keeps doing this.

Back in 2021, during the semi final game of the World T20 against Australia, Hafeez bowled one beamer that was hit for 6 and the rest of the balls were singles. Babar panicked and did not give a ball to Hafeez again even though Stoinis cant play spin. Pakistan lost that match because Babar had to bowl the qoutas of the pacers and left himself with no option.

I called this issue back in 2021, but Babarfans went crazy and gave the lame justification he is learning. Captaincy is not something you learn in international cricket but in domestic cricket
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He panics if any over bowler gave away more then 10 runs in an over and he tries to make radical changes in the bowling and set even more defensive fielding which allows the batsmen to keep milking singles and doubles for next 5 overs , This has been Babars trademark in every single game he is captained so far.
He never tries to choke batsmen or attack and goes for wickets
 
As I said earlier I had no interest in this worldcup earlier and therefore I didn’t even watch a single delivery in both Pak vs Aus and now Pak vs Afg game , did watch Pak half innings vs Ind that’s about it
 
Whoever becomes captain in future he should be strictly advised and trained by PCB to speak on technicalities and answer questions precisely during toss, post match presentation & press conferences. Since last 4 years Babar is bluffing everyone by saying Definitely, plan yehi tha ki game ko deep tak leke Jana hai, result humare hath me nahi hai, result Allah ke hath me hai, humare paas world class bowling hai. You don't need to speak in English but at least answer correctly in your native language. Acknowledge your failures like what went wrong and what are the areas of improvement. Even Bangladesh & Afghanistan captains speaks better than Babar. I know for some people communication skills doesn't matter but according to me these things makes person more accountable
 
zaidihusain said:
Whoever becomes captain in future he should be strictly advised and trained by PCB to speak on technicalities and answer questions precisely during toss, post match presentation & press conferences. Since last 4 years Babar is bluffing everyone by saying Definitely, plan yehi tha ki game ko deep tak leke Jana hai, result humare hath me nahi hai, result Allah ke hath me hai, humare paas world class bowling hai. You don't need to speak in English but at least answer correctly in your native language. Acknowledge your failures like what went wrong and what are the areas of improvement. Even Bangladesh & Afghanistan captains speaks better than Babar. I know for some people communication skills doesn't matter but according to me these things makes person more accountable
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Babar lacks game awareness its gulli mohalla stuff for him pick 10 friends and just bat bowl and field
 
emranabbas said:
Babar lacks game awareness its gulli mohalla stuff for him pick 10 friends and just bat bowl and field
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Exactly, his inability to learn even after gaining so much experience is more worrying and frustrating. I have never seen Babar coming up with different plan or strategy if Plan A doesn't work. 99% times Pakistan team doesn't know what target they have to set while batting first. He is leading the team in text book style
 
ssuhaide said:
I'd pin that one on Rizwan, Rizwan is a clown for burning that review he knew full well it was going well down leg side he and the bowler (Shaheen) should be ashamed of themselves.
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Mike Atherton "as reviews go, that's one of the worst. It was Rizwan and the bowler. Babar Azam had a reasonable view of it but didn't quite have the strength to resist his bowler and keeper"

The skipper was scared to overrule.
 
He now has the honor of being the first captain to lose to Afghanistan in an ODI.

During the match, hassan ali had reverse swing and was not allowed to bowl his complete qouta. Hashmat is a left hander and was taking risk on Ifti, Babar decided not to bowl more overs from ifti and gave the ball to shadab and usama that were being hit.

Babar even gave the 45th over to Usama when run a ball was required, and as expect usama got his for runs and the balls margin stayed at 24 with runs required being 19, this guy did an own goal.

Is he the worst captain ever? He makes Yousuf look like an all time great captain
 
Actually I'm starting to think the same. He's making too many rookie errors time and time again, and is too stubborn to admit them.

Besides he lacks tactical vision completely.

It's similar to how Umar Akmal was as a batsman through his career.
 
great "Pakistani" batsman but he is definitely not a great student of the game...doesn't have the aura of a leader
there was a moment when of all people imam was the guy giving the pep talk...and he clearly needs someone (next captain) to tell him to score quickly and take a few risks while batting...nabi was not spinning it square but this guy saw just tapping it out. you don't make grab a player and make him a captain just because he is scoring runs.
 
When Hasan Ali took the second wicket, the ball was reversing. New batsman in and it was time to put some pressure on Afghanistan. What does the genius do? He brings on his buddy Shadab who bowls a pathetic over and alleviates all the pressure. Pathetic joke of a captain.
 
The silver lining out of this farce display is that we might actually finally dump Babar as captain. But then I said the same after T20 WC and he stayed on.

It's a broken record at this point. He has to be the most ridiculous choice possible to lead an international cricket team. We've seen it year after year, over and over.

It's been an absolute one man show since hes taken over. He decides squads, playing 11, strategy. If he doesn't have to answer for his performance now , then I don't know what to say.
 
Farabi said:
A lot of criticism is fair. But every World Cup, we blame captains.
But what about the quality of this bowling display
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It's the captain's job to get the best out of his players. A player may have an off day but the whole team having off days in most games sums up the story about the captain.
 
Tbh i don't think just fixing Babar alone will fix things, this entire team has been in a big comfort zone for ages. Too much dosti yaari in the team and its now come to a point where medicority is accepted. You just have to look at the PCB travel logs to see the players were mostly in India on a vacation and were indulging in food.

The fitness, fielding levels of the Pakistani players is shockingly bad. Even Afghanistan looked a fitter unit

There is too much familiarity in the team for any player inside the team to fix things up, you need someone else from outside this group to shake things up.
 
Farabi said:
A lot of criticism is fair. But every World Cup, we blame captains.
But what about the quality of this bowling display
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The captain has to take blame especially when he has been undisputed captain for 3-4 years and he was admananent about the selection of these players in the PCB Cricket Committee meeting when Hafeez, Misbah impressed upon him on the need to have proper spinners in place of Shadab, Nawaz but Babar stuck to his guns. He now has to pay the price.
 
Savak said:
The captain has to take blame especially when he has been undisputed captain for 3-4 years and he was admananent about the selection of these players in the PCB Cricket Committee meeting when Hafeez, Misbah impressed upon him on the need to have proper spinners in place of Shadab, Nawaz but Babar stuck to his guns. He now has to pay the price.
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babar as a captain needed to be sacked.

That said, he did field Usama as a spinner both games but Usama was trash too.
 
He is Pakistan's highest paid player and highest adulated player. He needs to be thoroughly grilled by the higher authorities and even dropped from the team for a while. He has badly abused the status of being the best batsman in the team to the point he is no longer working hard on his game and fitness, look at his belly, his conversion rates have declined over the last year.

He needs to be told to improve his power hitting and game against spinners if he wants to come back into the team. We cannot do any worse with some hungry youngsters in the team.
 
He deserves this, makes too many mistakes and refuses to learn.

The way he gave Rahmat easy singles after the Gurbaz wicket, when everyone knows Rahmat is a nervous starter, just shows the acumen.
 
Babar is still one of the game's best batsmen. He will still walk into any side.
The problem is captaincy. He is not up to it and it is destroying even his batting. Much like when Tendulkar captained India.
Babar should give up captaincy and focus on his batting.
 
I feel sad for those people who waste their time watching his pathetic captaincy in action.
 
I feel for the guy. He has a likeable personality but not that of a leader. Having said that i dont think there is anyone else who has the leadership traits in the squad.
 
Said it many times, he is not a captain. In every match he goes in with a negative mindset, already from that point he seems lost.
And even though batting first might have been right today, but I am sure he decided that not looking at the wicket and conditions, but since he lost against Australia bowling first he wanted to bat now.

They say he doesn't listen to anyone, then he should take the full responsibility for this loss today and for selecting wrong players.
 
You can feel sad for someone when something bad happens to them which they don't deserve.

But Babar is a poor captain and I also find him throwing Usama at the end ahead of Shadab a little sus.

This WC has ended any kind of fondness I had for him as leader.

Just let him be your premier batsman, and he might actually be better free of this yoke.
 
Sarfaraz couldn't qualify 2019 WC, couldn't perform with the bat and couldn't win any series after champion trophy which led to his downfall. Babar had done countless blunders as a captain, but getting Saifi sacked is definitely not one of them.
 
He's not getting enough humiliation I want rest of 4 teams to beat the out of this team sarfraz as a captain was a champion he did well with way more crappy team
 
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Let get this straight babar is a captain but sarfaraz is way past it and his presence wouldnt have made any difference so grow up.
 
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We've lost to AFG a real shame and he'll what we did not had an off day AFG thoroughly dominated us
 
Though Babar is not an excellent captain, it's not easy to lead this team with bits and pieces players and fake all-rounders.
 
Babar is facing humiliation because he like many of our players lost the drive for excellence as a player as he got more comfortable and secure being the Pakistani team's top paid player and highest adulated player. You can just look at his belly and how badly his batting has regressed over the last year to show he is not really putting in the work that he used to before.
 
Galla said:
Let get this straight babar is stupid captain but sarfaraz is way past it and his presence wouldnt have made any difference so grow up.
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It would as Sarfarz develop players. Babar Azam wasted Pakistan Cricket 4 years just to cement his place as a captain and did not try the bench strength and just hanged with same people and lobbied for them.

If it was Sarfarz than he would changed many people in the team.
 
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Lol, this doesn't make sense. Hafeez has issues with Amir playing for Pakistan but wanted Sharjeel Khan picked?
 
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Babar's first taste of high-level captaincy was the 2012 U19 World Cup. Pakistan finished 8th. In comparison, they were 2nd in 2010 and 2014.

In domestic cricket he captained Central Punjab in the National T20 Cup in 2019 to dead last in 6th. The following year they finish 5th.

In PSL 2022, he captains Karachi Kings to 9 defeats from 10. In PSL 2023, he loses 50% of matches leading Peshawar Zalmi.

Now 11 years later including a 4-year run skippering Pakistan and ask - has there been any improvement in Babar's reading of the game ? His capacity to learn from mistakes ?

Removing Babar isn't a cure all but you cannot look at that shocking track record and expect him to transform into Mark Taylor.
 
Markhor said:
Babar's first taste of high-level captaincy was the 2012 U19 World Cup. Pakistan finished 8th. In comparison, they were 2nd in 2010 and 2014.

In domestic cricket he captained Central Punjab in the National T20 Cup in 2019 to dead last in 6th. The following year they finish 5th.

In PSL 2022, he captains Karachi Kings to 9 defeats from 10. In PSL 2023, he loses 50% of matches leading Peshawar Zalmi.

Now 11 years later including a 4-year run skippering Pakistan and ask - has there been any improvement in Babar's reading of the game ? His capacity to learn from mistakes ?

Removing Babar isn't a cure all but you cannot look at that shocking track record and expect him to transform into Mark Taylor.
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He was never in cricket for cricket he was only in cricket to show his cousins down
umar and kamran akmal
 
Looking at Babar's post match comments, I was dismayed to hear he said that they got a good total. Yeah, in the 90s maybe but not on these small grounds and concrete floors.

He obviously underestimated the Afghans and overestimated his own impotent bowling attack. Every other team is targeting 320+ but Babar is satisfied with sub par totals which are leading to losses even against minnows.

The guy is clueless and no wonder he's getting humiliated left right and centre.
 
I’m sorry but I can’t buy this nonsense anymore, I didn’t buy it in the first place either.

We were told that Babar Azam is the GOAT captain in Pakistan cricket team that has United a changing room under him, and others in the past have not done so as he has.

Where was this unity today?! In clear instances on the field, we witnessed some of the most disjointed team images I have seen. Why? Because the team is now losing against proper cricket teams on the global stage?

-Imam delivering the team talk during the drinks break, as if he is the leader of the side.

-Rizwan and Shaheen bullying Babar into taking ridiculous reviews time and time again

-Shaheen consulting Rizwan and Shadab for team strategies, Babar not even in the frame for those discussions.

-Fakhar Zaman laughing and joking with the Afghan players when shaming hands with them after they humiliated Pakistan on the field for a critical loss in their campaign.

-Rizwan making frustrated expressions when Babar refused to take a review, when the ball clearly missed everything for a caught behind appeal.

-I didn’t catch this but there were comments about Hassan Ali not getting involved in the team huddle at the drinks break but had to be called in


I feel this lie to make Babar and this team something that they are not (United) has run it’s course! Expect clear fall outs going forward. There is no way this same XI will be employed going forward. Some tough tough decisions need to be made, and if they are made you will see more cry offs
 
Rana said:
I’m sorry but I can’t buy this nonsense anymore, I didn’t buy it in the first place either.

We were told that Babar Azam is the GOAT captain in Pakistan cricket team that has United a changing room under him, and others in the past have not done so as he has.

Where was this unity today?! In clear instances on the field, we witnessed some of the most disjointed team images I have seen. Why? Because the team is now losing against proper cricket teams on the global stage?

-Imam delivering the team talk during the drinks break, as if he is the leader of the side.

-Rizwan and Shaheen bullying Babar into taking ridiculous reviews time and time again

-Shaheen consulting Rizwan and Shadab for team strategies, Babar not even in the frame for those discussions.

-Fakhar Zaman laughing and joking with the Afghan players when shaming hands with them after they humiliated Pakistan on the field for a critical loss in their campaign.

-Rizwan making frustrated expressions when Babar refused to take a review, when the ball clearly missed everything for a caught behind appeal.

-I didn’t catch this but there were comments about Hassan Ali not getting involved in the team huddle at the drinks break but had to be called in


I feel this lie to make Babar and this team something that they are not (United) has run it’s course! Expect clear fall outs going forward. There is no way this same XI will be employed going forward. Some tough tough decisions need to be made, and if they are made you will see more cry offs
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The team's body language is showing that everyone is trying to save their own ass now. They know the writing is on the wall and a lot of players are going to face the chop once this tournament is over.
 
Major said:
the funny thing is, the team talk was being given by a guy who cant stop the ball and always falls upon the ball. Even commentators were laughing at Imam
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Wasim didn't want to take any names but he was definitely referring to Imam on the topic of fitness and said 'itna bara mooh' on the ARY sports show.

Imam has become a fat joke in the field.
 
Saj said:
Mike Atherton "as reviews go, that's one of the worst. It was Rizwan and the bowler. Babar Azam had a reasonable view of it but didn't quite have the strength to resist his bowler and keeper"

The skipper was scared to overrule.
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One has to feel for babar the guy. He's a good bloke from whatever I've seen lf him.

I very strongly believe there are factions within the Pak team which is quite common with such performances. From an Indian perspective -> For all their problems, Rohit/Virat would've held their own and said a blank NO to such a review. They'd go only of they are personally convinced. Would've put the keeper/bowler in their place.
 
Shadab Khan ki pichle match main boothi Bani hui thy

He was clearly upset, depressed at being dropped. He was rightly dropped! They picked him today to make up to him.

The guy has no business playing for Pakistan right now!
 
Babar has cemented his captaincy legacy along side moyo, rameez raja, moin Khan and Azhar Ali as one of worst in pakistans history
 
The_KING said:
I doubt PCB will have the guts to sack Babar. Unless Babar resigns himself, he will still be the captain post the World Cup.
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I dont think its that difficult to remove Babar now, read the room, the public is questioning babar like never before. People are realising his poor captaincy. I wish he had learnt but he never did. I would rather have him as captain than the leech Rizwan but i guess now Rizwan’s supporters will be in full force.
 
the only good thing is everyone exposed since the asia cup babar will be stripped off from captaincy and shadab should be kicked out of the team and go rot in domestic for next 5 years. Shaheen is the only decent candidate but dont thing he can handle it
 
Amjid Javed said:
Babar has cemented his captaincy legacy along side moyo, rameez raja, moin Khan and Azhar Ali as one of worst in pakistans history
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To be fair, while Azhar lacked leadership, as a captain he knew how to make strategy. He wasnt a bad strategist just looked bad cause of his body language
 
Kroll said:
Looking at Babar's post match comments, I was dismayed to hear he said that they got a good total. Yeah, in the 90s maybe but not on these small grounds and concrete floors.

He obviously underestimated the Afghans and overestimated his own impotent bowling attack. Every other team is targeting 320+ but Babar is satisfied with sub par totals which are leading to losses even against minnows.

The guy is clueless and no wonder he's getting humiliated left right and centre.
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Babar’s post match comments are always disappointing and pathetic. When Pakistan couldnt even chase 130 against zimbabwe, he blamed the bowlers back then as well. He is spineless when it comes to admitting mistakes and recently adopted a false sense of bravado which fell apart.
 
Major said:
To be fair, while Azhar lacked leadership, as a captain he knew how to make strategy. He wasnt a bad strategist just looked bad cause of his body language
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Absolutely wrong, Azhar is the worst captain Pakistan ever had. He was handpicked by his mentors Misbah and Waqar which made up the axis of incompetence. The people that are responsible for destruction of pakistan cricket. Sarfraz and Babar are eons above Misbah, Azhar etc.
 
Amjid Javed said:
Misbah was a good test captain, let's not get carried away with the misbah hate
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I don’t rate his captaincy on UAE roads. He was exposed big time overseas.

He rode on the backs of many prime players and failed to get good wins outside of home.
 
ArabKnight said:
I don’t rate his captaincy on UAE roads. He was exposed big time overseas.

He rode on the backs of many prime players and failed to get good wins outside of home.
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Ok, so you don't rate fact we didn't lose a series under in him in UAE in tests. We also won a test series in NZ and drew a series in England.

He rode on the back of many prime players what a silly statement.

You could say that about a lot of captains. Pointing looked poor with no mcgrath / Warne.

Atleast come up with something substantial rather than a clear agenda
 
To be honest, I don’t blame Babar’s captaincy too much today. Hear me out before freaking …

Today, Babar led the side exactly the way PAK’s national game aka T20 should be led in middle overs. For last 30 overs, PAK kept things tight 4/5 singles and occasional boundaries here & there - AFGs didn’t run away with the game, only blemish is that bowlers didn’t take any wicket (ok - took one).

But, that’s exactly what every captain try to do in T20 - give singles, avoid boundaries and restrict the score.

In that royal game, I anyone will take 91/1 after 15, than 128/4 - even with 9 wickets, last 5 overs can fetch may be 48, or even 58 - take 72, that’s 12/overs …. It only takes the score to 163/4. But, at 128/4 after 15, just run a ball takes it to ~160, and in that game even Walsh or McGrath can connect couple with blind folded swing - that’ll take it to 170/8 ….

Choking a batting side, manufacturing a wicket, create a situation where target looks bigger than actual, taking a trade off of getting the key batsman out by sacrificing run rate ….. these are obsolete tactics in T20. Everything is instant - who the fool bothers much for tactics?

PAK Captain didn’t see where the next wicket coming and looked very flat, a rabbit caught in front of head light. I saw very similar faces of our captains in past when they allowed 50-50 games to drift away because they didn’t have any bowler to give a KO punch, kept trying to prolong the game in a hope that batting side falters.

I don’t think, changing captain will change the situation unless PAK’s overall outlook to the game changes. Personally, I don’t like batting captains, as they are often defensive & selfish; more so if that captain is a soft heart & main stay of batting for a struggling side, but whoever becomes next captain, must know that PAK can’t contain in defence, they have to take wickets, if required manufacture one, be it comes with a risk of losing inside 40 overs.
 
ArabKnight said:
I don’t rate his captaincy on UAE roads. He was exposed big time overseas.

He rode on the backs of many prime players and failed to get good wins outside of home.
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He rode on the back of a chucker - saeed ajmal on uae roads. Stayed number 1 for days, not even weeks. Embarrasing kickouts from CT and WC 2015, Pakistan cricket was at its worse during Misbah-Waqar-Azhar era.
 
Amjid Javed said:
Ok, so you don't rate fact we didn't lose a series under in him in UAE in tests. We also won a test series in NZ and drew a series in England.

He rode on the back of many prime players what a silly statement.

You could say that about a lot of captains. Pointing looked poor with no mcgrath / Warne.

Atleast come up with something substantial rather than a clear agenda
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Any one can win at home. Nothing to brag about. Absolutely nothing. UAE attritional tests are the most dull form of cricket ever. Defensive mentality only succeeds in such dull situations. It fails everywhere else. Drawing a series in England is not something novel. It’s quite laughable that you are mentioning that.
 
ArabKnight said:
Any one can win at home. Nothing to brag about. Absolutely nothing. UAE attritional tests are the most dull form of cricket ever. Defensive mentality only succeeds in such dull situations. It fails everywhere else. Drawing a series in England is not something novel. It’s quite laughable that you are mentioning that.
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which is why Sarfraz lost to Sri Lanka.
 
He looked fed up today during and after the match.

Looked like a skipper who has had enough.
 
ArabKnight said:
Any one can win at home. Nothing to brag about. Absolutely nothing. UAE attritional tests are the most dull form of cricket ever. Defensive mentality only succeeds in such dull situations. It fails everywhere else. Drawing a series in England is not something novel. It’s quite laughable that you are mentioning that.
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Anyone can win at home? If that's case why doesn't every single test side win all their tests then?

The whole point of "test" cricket is a test of skill, application and patients.

Again your making silly points because of an agenda, go watch T20 cricket

Only thing laughable here is your weak points at so called labelling someone not a good captain.

Just a scatter gun approach of making up useless points with no context
 
Saj said:
He looked fed up today during and after the match.

Looked like a skipper who has had enough.
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Good, good riddance. He should have been sacked in all formats 2 years ago.
 
ArabKnight said:
At least he isn’t a looser like Misbah & Babar and actually has 2 ICC trophies in his cabinet.
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mental gymnastics by you today.

first i exposed you with the imran statement where you ran away and couldnt comment now here when you came with another childish statement where you said anyone can win and sarfraz couldn't here you doing your gymnastics.

anyways, for a guy who gave up on Pakistan cricket, yet you are here talking about it.
So i dont expect you to be a man of your word
 
Amjid Javed said:
Anyone can win at home? If that's case why doesn't every single test side win all their tests then?

The whole point of "test" cricket is a test of skill, application and patients.

Again your making silly points because of an agenda, go watch T20 cricket

Only thing laughable here is your weak points at so called labelling someone not a good captain.

Just a scatter gun approach of making up useless points with no context
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There’s no connection between your points.
 
Major said:
mental gymnastics by you today.

first i exposed you with the imran statement where you ran away and couldnt comment now here when you came with another childish statement where you said anyone can win and sarfraz couldn't here you doing your gymnastics.

anyways, for a guy who gave up on Pakistan cricket, yet you are here talking about it.
So i dont expect you to be a man of your word
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Misbah and Baber are not trophy winners.

I support those who win big & shine our country’s name on the international stage.

Imran Khan and Sarfraz Ahmed are winners.
 
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