Virat Kohli Fakhar Zaman Babar Azam Shaheen Shah Afridi India Pakistan cricket Pakistan Cricket Team Virat Kohli Fakhar Zaman Babar Azam Shaheen Shah Afridi India Pakistan

Pakistan Star Fakhar Zaman Set To Escape With Reprimand After Post Supporting Babar Azam: Report

sports.ndtv.com

Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman is likely to escape with a reprimand for criticising the PCB ahead of the squad announcement, where it planned to drop former skipper Babar Azam for two Tests against England.

Azam, along with several senior players, got eventually dropped for two Test days after Fakhar expressed his displeasure on social media.

Fakhar was issued a show-cause notice by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after he tweeted his views where he compared Azam's run drought with India's Virat Kohli, who went through a lean patch between 2020 and late 2022. "It's concerning to hear suggestions about dropping Babar Azam.

India didn't bench Virat Kohli during his rough stretch between 2020 and 2023, when he averaged 19.33, 28.21, and 26.50, respectively," Fakhar wrote on 'X'. "If we are considering sidelining our premier batsman, arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced, it could send a deeply negative message across the team.

Related News
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday addressed Babar Azam's resignation from the white-ball captaincy, clarifying that no one from the PCB pressured the 30-year-old to step down. Earlier this month, Babar announced his decision to relinquish the white-ball captaincy of the Pakistan cricket team to "prioritise" his performance. Since Babar took on the role in 2019, Pakistan has not won a major tournament. Last year, under his leadership, the team was eliminated from the Asia Cup in the Super 4 stage following a two-wicket defeat by Sri Lanka in Colombo. A few months later, Pakistan's struggles continued, with the team failing to reach the knockout stage of the ODI World Cup in India.
Former captain Babar Azam, pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah on Sunday returned to the Pakistan team for the upcoming white-ball series in Australia after being sidelined for two Tests against England. The Pakistani selectors announced the One-Day International and T20I squads for the tours of Australia and Zimbabwe starting next month. Many new faces have been brought into the squads, while senior players like Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan missed out on selection.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday demoted premier pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi to Category B from Category A, and did not offer central contracts to senior players Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed and Osama Mir for the 2024-25 season. Test skipper Shan Masood remained in Category B despite Pakistan scoring a come-from-behind 2-1 series victory over England recently.
Former Pakistan cricket captain Mohammad Hafeez did not hold back his feelings as Pakistan completed a stunning comeback and sealed a 2-1 home series win against England. Pakistan rode on the performances of spinners Sajid Khan and Noman Ali -- two players who had been brought back into the side in the middle of the series -- to defeat England. Hafeez made a tweet that was cryptic in nature as he spoke about 'exposing faces'. While it is unclear as to whom the tweet was directed at, fans interpreted that it may be something to do with star Pakistan batter Babar Azam, who was dropped mid-series.
Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag took a dig at Pakistan batter Babar Azam's recent performance in international cricket and asked him to work on his fitness. Ahead of the second Test match against England in Multan, Pakistan's selection committee took everyone by surprise after dropping the former Pakistan captain Babar Azam from the final two long-format matches of the series against the Three Lions. Kamran Ghulam was handed his maiden Test cap and placed to fill Babar's position as Pakistan hunted to level down the series. The batting all-rounder was at the receiving end of criticism from some sections of fans before and during the Test.
Former Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Hafeez has hit back at critics after Pakistan registered a thumping 152-run victory over England in the second Test at Multan. Pakistan had come under immense scrutiny following the decision to drop Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah from the Test squad ahead of the second Test. However, all three of their replacements starred. Kamran Ghulam, Babar's replacement, notched up a century on Test debut, while spinners Sajid Khan and Noman Ali picked up all 20 England wickets between themselves.

Latest News

Change privacy settings
This page might use cookies if your analytics vendor requires them.