Danish Kaneria questions Babar Azam’s intent, says he only scores runs against Zimbabwe or smaller teams

Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has questioned Babar Azam’s intent after they suffered a six-wicket loss against arch-rivals India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Sunday. The former Pakistan captain trudged to 64 runs off 90 balls against New Zealand in the run-chase of 321 in the team’s opening game of the Champions Trophy.

After suffering a 60-run loss against the Kiwis, a lot of Pakistan experts questioned Azam’s strike rate of 71.11. Subsequently, Azam was looking good against India but he was dismissed by Hardik Pandya after scoring only 23 runs. Thus, he could not convert this start into a substantial score and Pakistan was skittled out for a below-par score of 241 runs.

Kaneria noted that either Babar Azam lacks intent against the big teams or he scores runs against Zimbabwe and smaller teams.

Speaking to ANI, Kaneria said, “Babar has not scored runs for so long. But when he scores, it is against Zimbabwe or against smaller teams. If he scores against big teams. So, there is no intent at all.”

Kaneria said Azam is playing selfishly and he is not delivering for the team. 

“If we talk about Babar Azam, he is playing for himself. When he is under pressure, he focusses on keeping his stats and ICC ranking intact. I have scored a fifty, I have done it. But where is the intent of winning the match for your side? he said.

The former leg-spinner reckons Pakistan lacks depth in their batting department as the batters are inconsistent.

“There is no depth in the batting. Salman Agha and Khushdil Shah make some contributions sometimes. Saud Shakeel is a technically correct batter. But Rizwan’s bat seems to have stopped working. When the Champions Trophy squad was announced, one could see it getting eliminated pretty soon out of the tournament,” Kaneria said.

After losing their opening two matches, Pakistan have been eliminated from the Champions Trophy. The hosts of the tournament will play their final game against Bangladesh at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi on Thursday.