Misbah-ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik blamed Babar Azam’s captaincy after Pakistan’s defeat against Afghanistan.
Misbah-ul-Haq accuse Babar Azam after historic defeat
Afghanistan made history on October 23 bagging their first-ever win against Pakistan in ODI history in the 22nd match of the World Cup 2023. Winning the toss, Pakistan scored 283 runs in 50 overs, and Afghanistan won the match scoring 286 runs in 49 overs.
Noor Ahmad who made his World Cup debut dismissed three wickets and had the best bowling figures by an Afghanistan spinner in World Cup debut.
With the openers Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran scoring 65 and 87 runs, Rahmat Shah and Shahidi completed the match with their impressive knock of 77* and 48* respectively.
After the match, Pakistan legend Misbah-ul-Haq blamed Babar Azam’s captaincy saying, “We can see that whenever Haris Rauf is given the ball to bowl in the powerplay, he is struggling. He is low in confidence, he is leaking 18-20 runs in his first over.
We have spoken after the last match against Australia as well, about how New Zealand brought Mitchell Santner in the eighth or the ninth over. It is an attacking option since it is the last over of the powerplay, and batsmen try to take the risk. It is a gamble, you can take a wicket as well,” he said.
“It would have been good for Haris’s confidence if the captain would have given the ball after the powerplay when there are four fielders in the deep. Then he can bowl his bouncers.
If he is bowling short of length outside the off stump, he will have a sweeper cover. Now what’s happening is that he is getting hit four boundaries in the first over and he is done for the whole game.
“We know that Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran play the pace bowling well. If we could have brought the spinners early and forced them to attack, they could have got in trouble,” he further added.
The former player Shoaib Malik also supported Misbah’s stance and felt that Babar was not being creative.
“Sorry to interrupt Misbah bhai! our spin department is also struggling. Our captain doesn’t think out of the box. Saud Shakeel is there, he can bowl you don’t give him the ball,” he said.
Afghanistan has played five matches so far in the World Cup 2023 where they won two matches. With Pakistan is set to face South Africa in their next upcoming match on Friday, and Afghanistan will be facing Sri Lanka on October 30 at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
