Pakistan cricketer Imam-ul-Haq defended the Green Shirts' skipper Babar Azam after veteran Ahmed Shehzad bashed him for his "unimpressive" performance during the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024.
Imam, who is one of the panellists in Geo News show 'Haarna Mana Hai' alongside veterans Shehzad and Imran Nazir, insisted that the element of respect should not be ignored when commenting on the performance of the team.
"He’s your captain, you don’t want to consider him as a captain it’s fine. The world has made him the king, you haven’t," said Imam, likening the criticim towards Babar with that of batter Azam Khan's body shaming.
Imam added that Babar should be respected for his services for the team and the fact that he has played 250 international matches.
While denying to justify the lack of performance by Babar, Imam maintained that his statistics from the last 20 matches should not overshadow his statistics over the last 250 matches, stressing on respecting his contribution.
"Is there anyone who have been the number one in Pakistan’s ODI ranking as well as in the T20I," said the batter.
He added: "All of us have played for Pakistan and all of us have the right to criticise. None of us are satisfied with the team’s performance against India, but remember that the element of respect should not be ignored."
The left-handed batter shared his opinion over the criticism by Ahmed who termed Babar a "fake king", comparing his own statistics with him during the show on Wednesday.
"I feel I could've done better than those stats. But your (Babar's) stats are worse than mine... You've faced 205 balls in powerplays in T20 World Cups, but you haven't managed to hit one six!"
Criticising the Pakistan captain, Ahmed added: "You destroyed the entire domestic structure. You sacrificed good performers in domestic cricket to adjust your friends in the team."
Imam maintained that Babar is not concerned with all the criticism he is receiving and does not have time to retaliate over it.
“We are here to talk about cricket on Geo News, I’m not interested in discussing Babar only, there are more things to discuss," said the cricketer, urging fellow athletes to respect everyone regardless of their position in the team.
- Imam-ul-haq
