Former cricketer Basit Ali recently shared how Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam continues to enjoy huge popularity despite his poor show. He stated that despite the recent failures, he has the biggest fan following in the country. Basit also highlighted how Babar has been the main talking point for the new channels, which shows his immense popularity.
He said in his latest YouTube video, “Babar Azam hasn’t been scoring runs. However, even if he is walking somewhere, the video of that is everywhere on the television. This is when he is out of form. It’s Babar Azam on one side, and all the remaining players on the other side. Every movement of his is on the television. “He is the number one in Pakistan in terms of fan following. We have seen the same with Imran Khan. When Imran used to come into the ground, everyone would just chant for him. Now look at Babar Azam, the whole of Faisalabad is crazy for him.”
Notably, Babar Azam has struggled to get going in Test cricket lately. He hasn’t crossed the 50-run mark in his last 16 Test innings as well. He scored just 64 runs across four innings in Pakistan’s recently concluded two-match home Test series against Bangladesh as well. However, Basit Ali also criticized Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi.
“Mohsin Naqvi, please open your eyes. You say that you will fix Pakistan’s cricket, but it cannot happen like this. It is the bitter truth. People criticize me when I speak about Yasir Shah. Now, Ravichandran Ashwin has said the same thing, expressing surprise over the dearth of spinners in Pakistan. I may be wrong, but is Ashwin also wrong? Even Sourav Ganguly spoke about how Pakistan cricket has deteriorated. The promises made to fix Pakistan’s cricket are nothing but gimmicks,” he said.
“The mentors should not be lying. There was a press release today which suggested that the coaching staff were picked by the mentors. It is a blatant lie. Yes, the mentors had a say, but a few names from the NCA were also sent. Shoaib Malik says he isn’t interested in coaching. He is making Mohammad Haris and Babar Azam practice power-hitting. Isn’t that part of coaching? First tell him what is the job of a mentor. Instead of mentoring, he is coaching,” he concluded.
