Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt backed Babar Azam after the latter’s resignation as the team’s white-ball captain. He slammed ex-Pakistani pacer Sikander Bakht for his comments on the Babar as well. After Babar quit his leadership position, Bakht suggested that he should have stepped down the day Pakistan faced a group-stage exit at the 2024 T20 World Cup as well.

Saying that Babar finally felt ashamed of his performance as captain, the veteran told Geo News (via Times Now): “Ab sharam ayi! (You finally felt ashamed!) As soon as our World Cup was over on 16th June because we had not qualified further, he should have resigned at the same time. The whole nation was saying that he should have resigned. But he was stubborn. Because his style was like this, he was king. His performance was not good, neither was theirs. Anyway, they should have seen that we are removed in two ways. I don’t know what happened to him.”

ALSO READ: Hardik Pandya shares happiness after winning back the love of fans

However, Salman Butt was not happy with Bakht’s choice of words. He said that one shouldn’t make such comments about Babar Azam, who has been Pakistan’s top performer in recent years.

Reacting to Bakht’s remarks, here’s what Salman Butt said during a TV show: “Dekhiye respect wahi deta hain jiski aapni hoti hain. This is very very unfortunate. You’re criticising the player who has been the best player for Pakistan in the last five years. No player was consistent before him and among the current crop of cricketers, also there hasn’t been any other with such consistency. You can like or dislike any person but you should consider the player’s stature while criticising. I will not say much.”