"Run-rate Kharab Kar Jata Hai": Ex-Pakistan Cricketer's Dig At Babar Azam

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has been under fire for his captaincy for quite a long time now. What adds to his problems is the fact that, of late, his batting has also come under scrutiny. Once touted as one of the best batters across the world, Babar Azam is undoubtedly not at his very best at present. While critics continue to lash out at him for his mediocre batting performance across formats, former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has also joined the list.

"Babar Azam team ka run-rate kharaab kar jata hai (Babar Azam deteriorates the scoring rate of the team)," said Kaneria on his YouTube channel.

"If you see this Indian team, they are full of match winners. But on the Pakistan side, we heavily depend on Babar Azam in all three formats, and he only scores for himself."

"Babar Azam continues to score his own 50, 60, 70 runs and the team doesn't benefit from that at all, and it's just causing losses," said the former Pakistan spinner in Hindi.

After losing the T20 World Cup final to England last year, Pakistan hosted the Three Lions and New Zealand across three series but failed to win any. The Babar Azam-led side suffered a 3-0 clean sweep at the hands of England before playing a 0-0 draw in two-match series against New Zealand. All of them were Test matches.

Pakistan then faced New Zealand in a three-match ODI series which the hosts lost 1-2 despite taking an early lead in the series.

Kaneria said that Pakistan should learn from teams like India on how to use the home conditions to their advantage.

"Did we make any big score of note in the ODIs? Did anyone score double hundred? Was there any dominant performance? No. We need to learn from other countries like India who are exploiting their conditions. But here we are afraid of losing in our own conditions," Kaneria said.

source https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/run-rate-kharab-kar-jata-hai-ex-pakistan-cricketers-dig-at-babar-azam-3718673