Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is in the headlines following the team’s dismal performance in the ICC Men’s Cup 2023, where they finished fifth and lost a semifinal spot for the third time in a row.
Apart from this, it happened for the first time Pakistan lost five matches in a single World Cup edition, including four of which took place consecutively.
Though Babar received an amount of backing from former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja, who called for a ‘change in the system’ rather than the captain, former Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Amir launched a fiery rant on Raza.
ALSO READ: ‘You can’t make Babar scapegoat’: Wasim Akram blasts critics blames faulty Pakistan cricket system
Disagreeing with Raza’s call for a ‘change in the system’, Amir, during a show ‘Haarana Mana Hay’ on Geo news, Amit hit out at both Raza and Babar saying captaincy matters more than what the members of the PCB management comprises of. Amir even gave examples of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup win under Imran Khan, 2009 T20 World Cup victory, and win over India in the 2017 Champions Trophy final.
“Captaincy does matter. What is the system? It is not a wall. Five and six people have been given the responsibility to run Pakistan cricket. A captain is also one of them. In 1992 under Imran Khan, we won the World Cup, and the system was the same. In 1999 our team was a world-beater, who reached the finals. We won the 2009 T20 World Cup with the same system, and we won the 2017 Champions Trophy under the same system,” HT quoted Geo News where Amir made his comments.
Apart from this, the former Pakistani pacer cited the example of how England managed to bounce back from a horrible 2015 World Cup exit to win the trophy in 2019 under Eoin Morgan.
“Babar is captain for the past four years. He has built his team on his own. Buttler is not part of our system, so why did England play so badly? Does the system in England also need a makeover? After the 2015 debacle, Morgan said I want to play this brand of cricket, I want these 25 players. The system remained the same, it was the captain, who changed his mindset. England were struggling in Test cricket for two years. Joe Root was the captain. The system is the same but we say England’s Test cricket has changed. It was Ben Stokes, who changed his approach,” he said.
“As long as the captain’s mindset will not change, the system can do nothing. Was it the system, who told him not to play Abrar Ahmad, or bench Fakhar after the first match,” Amir added.
Mentions Dhoni:
Amir even mentioned former Indian skipper and legendary player Mahendra Singh Dhoni to elaborate his point on how the latter shaped Ravindra Jadeja to be one of the leading all-rounders across formats.
“We say Dhoni changed India’s cricket, but he never changed the system. People kept saying that for how long he kept giving Jadeja and Ashwin chances. And now we say Jadeja is the World’s best all-rounder. MS Dhoni has given them the team,” said Amir.
Milestone Alert!Livemint tops charts as the fastest growing news website in the world 🌏 Click here to know more.
Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
Updated: 13 Nov 2023, 05:04 PM IST