Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt ripped apart Babar Azam-led Men in Green following their poor performances in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024, being held in West Indies and the USA. Butt came down heavily on Babar for his lack of match-winning performances and blasted the entire side for portraying themselves as giants despite falling flat against big teams. He even laughed off comparisons of Babar and Virat Kohli, stating that ‘there is self-proclamation that our captain is the king’.
In a social media video, Butt said, “There is self-proclamation that our captain is the king and the other is the world’s best fast bowler. Sometimes we compare this guy with (Jasprit) Bumrah and him (Babar) with (Virat) Kohli…Okay, you touched ICC (top) ranking at one point, but also touched reality sometime. Are you able to win a match on your own? Is there a standing of our team? It’s similar to those YouTube thumbnails that you are enticed to click and open once.”
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Babar has only 90 runs in three games in the T20 WC, at an average of 30 and a strike-rate of 105. Against India, he only managed a 10-ball 13.
Butt further mentioned, “Besides its good things, one bad thing about social media is that you can get anything done by paid campaigns…your decisions are based on paid campaigns. We should bring these self-proclaimed greats back on earth and (tell them to) stay who they are. First win a match, a big tournament, fight it out to win against a big team, finish a match single-handedly, then think what you want to proclaim.”
Further, Butt lavished huge praise on Rohit Sharma-led India for their mental superiority, which is helping them win big games. Talking about the India-Pakistan T20 WC clash, on Sunday (June 9) in New York, Rohit & Co. defended 119 by restricing Pakistan for 113/7 riding on Jasprit Bumrah’s 3 for 14 and contributions from Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh along with some good fielding.
Pakistan did redeem themselves to an extent with a seven-wicket win over Canada on Tuesday (June 11), however, they still have lots to do to proceed to the Super 8. Babar-led Pakistan have lost two games, to USA and India, and need to beat Ireland at all costs in their final game, and hope for other results to go in their favour to qualify for the next round.
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