Aakash Chopra believes Babar Azam’s captaincy may be jeopardized if he fails to produce in Pakistan’s World Cup 2023 match against India.
The subcontinental rivals will square off on Saturday, October 14 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Babar Azam will be looking to become Pakistan’s first ODI World Cup captain to defeat the Men in Blue.
Chopra stated in a video previewing the game on his YouTube channel that Babar needed to score runs to save his leadership. He stated:
“I feel Babar’s captaincy is at stake if it doesn’t happen here because scoring runs is necessary and you haven’t scored runs. The neighbors keep saying King Babar but the king is one who has that status.”
Aakash Chopra
The Pakistan captain can be recognized as a great player if he scores runs against India during important matches. I want to emphasize that he needs to do well on significant occasions to earn the title. He went on to say:
“You get that status only when you score runs in a big match against a big team. In India, if you don’t score runs against Pakistan, Australia or England, we don’t consider him a player at all. The same goes for Babar Azam. He needs to score runs against this team.”
Aakash Chopra
Babar has only scored 15 runs in two innings of the 2018 World Cup. In six ODI innings against India, the elegant hitter has accumulated 168 runs at an unimpressive average of 28.00 and has never made a fifty.
Aakash Chopra Questions Babar Azam’s Captaincy Ability
Aakash Chopra emphasized that Babar Azam’s captaincy has also been found deficient on several occasions. He noticed:
“Honestly speaking, if I do man-to-man marking, his captaincy has looked extremely ordinary in this entire tournament and before that as well. He looks slightly clueless quite a few times about who to bowl, when and how much. It was the same story in the Asia Cup as well. So I feel he will be under tremendous pressure.”
Aakash Chopra
The cricketer-turned-commentator also offered game plans for the Indian squad to use against some of Pakistan’s other hitters. He elaborated:
“If Fakhar Zaman comes, you can bring spin against him slightly early because he gets stuck a little against spin. As I said, bowl bouncers to Mohammad Rizwan. Go for pace for Iftikhar Ahmed also and that is why I am saying you can play three fast bowlers.”
Aakash Chopra
Haris Rauf, according to Chopra, has to be back at his best in the Pakistan bowling department, while Shaheen Shah Afridi is dealing with a swollen finger. He finished by predicting that India will win if they played more conservatively against Hasan Ali with the new ball.
