Pakistan opening batter Imam-ul-Haq jumped to Babar Azam's defence after Ahmed Shahzad's 'fake king' statement against the national team's white-ball captain. Imam hit back at the former right-handed batter, claiming that the world considers Babar king and it doesn't matter what his opinion is.
With Pakistan on the brink of getting eliminated from the group stage of T20 World Cup 2024, Babar has been copping widespread criticism from former cricketers. The 2009 World T20 champions lost to USA and India, with Babar's poor performance getting highlighted in both matches, failing as a top-order batter.
After Ahmed Shahzad defended Azam Khan and called for those body-shaming him, Imam stated that Babar deserves the same level of respect, given he is the captain.
"Everyone has the right to criticise Pakistan team and everyone is gutted to lose the India game. But respect should always be there, he is your captain. If you don't want to consider him your king, that is okay. The world has considered it, so it doesn't matter what you think. If you feel it's wrong to body shame Azam Khan, then equal respect needs to be given to Babar Azam as well," Imam told on Geo News.
Pakistan beat Canada but Super 8 qualification chances remain slim:
Meanwhile, Pakistan registered their first win of the showpiece event against Canada on Tuesday, defeating them by 7 wickets. However, the win didn't do their net run-rate a whole lot of good as it needed 17.3 overs to chase down a target of 107. With USA winning 2 out of 3 matches, they need only 1 win to join India from Group A as the 2nd team to qualify for the Super 8.
Even a washout on Friday against Ireland will take USA through to Super 8 and knock Pakistan out.
Pakistan, meanwhile, will face Ireland in their final league stage game on Sunday in Florida. With Florida witnessing continuous showers and a washout looming, the 2009 T20 World Champions face an early exit.
