"There's No One Who Can Stand In Front Of Him Right Now" - Rashid Latif On Players Complaining About Babar Azam's Captaincy

Updated - 27 Jan 2023, 02:16 PM

Babar Azam
Babar Azam (PC-AP)

Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s captaincy has been criticized after losing in the finals of the Asia Cup and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The Men in Green had a below-average performance in Tests at home as they suffered a whitewash against England and failed to win a Test match against New Zealand. Earlier this month, there were speculations about removing Babar from the captaincy in all three formats.

The 28-year-old has consistently performed with the bat and won the ICC Men’s Player of the Year as well as the Men’s ODI Player of the Year. The right-handed batter was the only player to score more than 2,000 runs in international cricket in 2022, scoring 2598 runs at an average of 54.12 with eight centuries and 17 fifties. He equalled Virat Kohli’s record as ODI Player of the Year in consecutive years.

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Babar Azam
Image Credits: Twitter)

There’s Only One Guy Who Plays All The Matches – Rashid Latif

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Rashid Latif praised Babar Azam after he was named the ICC Men’s Player of the Year. He claimed that Pakistan has no alternative captain after Babar, citing that Shadab Khan and Shaheen Afridi are both injury-prone players.

Rashid Latif
Rashid Latif. Image source- 24newshd.tv

“You tell me the options. How much does Shadab (Khan) play? He misses 50 per cent of matches due to injury. He is not an option. If Shadab is available throughout, I would’ve said myself that Babar can step down. Shaheen (Afridi) is out of injury as well. There’s only one guy who plays all the matches,” said Latif.

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The Same Thing Happened To Sarfaraz A Few Years Ago – Rashid Latif

The former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman said that the same thing happened to the then-captain, Sarfaraz Ahmed, a few years ago. He said it was a very bad move, and Pakistan have not yet recovered from it.

“Whatever is happening to Babar right now, the same thing happened to Sarfaraz a few years ago. That was a big mistake and we raised our voices against that. It was a very bad move. We still haven’t recovered from that.”

Sarfaraz Ahmed (PC-AP)
Sarfaraz Ahmed (PC-AP)

“If you think you can do a reset after removing Babar from captaincy… you said that the players are complaining (about Babar). There’s no one who can stand in front of him right now.”

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Pakistan national cricket team Rashid Latif Sarfaraz Ahmed Shadab Khan Shaheen Afridi