Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria feels that Babar Azam continuing as an opener is one of the main reasons for T20 World Cup final loss. Pakistan were defeated by England in the finals of the T20 World Cup 2022 and throughout their campaign, Babar struggled to make runs.
The right-hander scored just 124 runs in seven innings at an average of 17.71 and his strike-rate of 93.23. A lot of experts including Wasim Akram have already spoken about Babar not being an ideal choice for the opening spot.
Kaneria said that Babar’s stubbornness to open is not helping Pakistan and stated the example of Karachi Kings who endured a poor PSL 2022 season. He went on to note that Babar has performed only when his partner Mohammad Rizwan is also firing.
"Babar Azam is stubborn. The same happened when he was with Karachi Kings too. Their management did not want him to play as opener. But he was adamant to open because he cannot bat in the middle order. Don't know why Babar doesn't want to play in the middle-order. Babar's stubbornness is only doing harm to Pakistani cricket. If Rizwan performs, then Babar also bats well. Babar starts his innings on a very slow note," Kaneria told in a video on his Youtube Channel.
Further, Kaneria hailed Virat Kohli for being ‘selfless’ and noted how he had made an extraordinary comeback under his new captain Rohit Sharma.
"When it comes to being selfless, there is no one like Virat Kohli. The team lost the World Cup under his captaincy, and he had to face criticism. He even lost his captaincy. Many raised questions about his place in the team. But he didn't give up. He gave his full support to the new captain and played at the number he asked him to. He has re-emerged with his form since the Asia Cup," he added.
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