Asia Cup 2023: "Think About Changing The Captain After World Cup" - Mohammad Hafeez Backs Babar Azam Amid Criticism

Former Pakistan National Cricket Team captain Mohammad Hafeez has come out in support of Babar Azam amid heavy criticism the current Men In Green skipper is facing following the team’s Asia Cup 2023 exit.

Pakistan faced a crushing defeat at the hands of India in the Super Four game and they also lost the virtual semi-final against Sri Lanka to get knocked out of the tournament. Following the defeat, there have been reports of chaos in Pakistan’s dressing room with one report claiming that the Pakistan skipper was involved in a verbal spat with Shaheen Afridi.

During a media talk, Hafeez said that Babar Azam shouldn’t be blamed alone for the defeats and he needs to be supported. He also backed Babar to continue as the skipper of the side for the World Cup in India.

“If you don’t give credit only to the captain for reaching the final, then don’t blame the defeat only on the captain. Throwing blame on a single player will not solve the problem,” Hafeez said.

“Babar should be fully supported for the World Cup and think about changing the captain after the World Cup,” he further added.

“We failed in the Asia Cup and we have to accept that. Only when we accept failure will we move towards improvement. There must have been mistakes in our planning as these players have been in the national side for the last two to three years,” Hafeez said.

228 runs naa toh akele kaptaan ne karne the, naa hi usne akele khaaye – Mohammad Hafeez

Mohammad Hafeez, while referring to Pakistan’s 228-run loss to India, said that Babar Azam didn’t concede those runs and it wasn’t his responsibility to hit those many runs on his own. He also said that the players as well as the team management are equally responsible for Pakistan’s defeat against India and Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2023.

“228 runs naa toh akele kaptaan ne karne the, naa hi usne akele khaaye (Neither Babar had to score those 228 runs, nor he conceded those runs). The players are responsible for that failure, and the management is responsible. 

“I heard a statement that we hadn’t lost a match in past three months… I couldn’t understand that. 3 months of success doesn’t give you the license to lose this badly. I understand that it hurts because we lost that way to India, the margin of defeat was big,” Hafeez said, as quoted by Hindustan Times.

“I believe Pakistan were better in the first game that was abandoned. But the second game, it caused damage to our mental state. And the way we lost to Sri Lanka, we weren’t really there mentally. We were still hurting with loss against India.”

Pakistan’s next assignment will be the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India. Ahead of the competition they have been handed a massive blow as the star quick Naseem Shah will reportedly miss the entire tournament after suffering a shoulder injury during the Asia Cup game against India.