Gautam Gambhir has slammed Babar Azam’s captaincy following Pakistan’s exit from the Asia Cup after their loss to Sri Lanka on Thursday, September 14.
Babar has been under scrutiny following Pakistan’s exit from the Asia Cup 2023. The team’s loss to Sri Lanka in the Super Four stage of the tournament on September 14, 2023, marked the end of their journey in the competition. The match, which took place at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, was a virtual semi-final, with the winner set to face India in the final.
Pakistan, led by Babar Azam, chose to bat first in a game that was reduced to 42 overs due to rain. They managed to post a respectable score of 252 for 7, thanks to notable contributions from Mohammad Rizwan (86* off 73) and Iftikhar Ahmed (47 off 40). However, due to the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method coming into play, Sri Lanka’s target was adjusted to 252 instead of 253.
Despite a strong start from Pakistan, Sri Lanka managed to secure a thrilling two-wicket victory off the final delivery. This victory was largely attributed to Charith Asalanka’s unbeaten 49 off 47 balls, which ensured Sri Lanka finished ahead of Pakistan.
Following the defeat, Babar Azam’s captaincy was criticized by several cricket pundits. Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir, as quoted by Crickettimes, described Azam’s leadership as “extremely ordinary,” criticizing his field placements and tactics during the crucial closing overs of the game.
“For me, extremely ordinary captaincy as well. There was a four hit in Zaman Khan’s over over mid-off and there was another four hit in Shaheen Shah Afridi’s over over mid-off, and both those deliveries were slower ones.”
“If you want to bowl slower ones, keep the mid-off fielder at long-off and bring the third man up. This is extremely simple captaincy. Imagine if you had 13 runs left in the last over, it would have been difficult for Sri Lanka,” said Gambhir.
He suggested that Babar should have focused on maintaining pressure rather than hunting for wickets, which could have potentially altered the outcome of the match.
“You were allowing the game to drift at one stage. You wanted to complete your sixth bowler’s quota. It doesn’t work out like that. When the partnership was developing between Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama, you should have brought on your main bowlers and tried to pick up wickets.”
“Pakistan could have won this game only by taking wickets. If Sri Lanka had batted till the end, they could have won earlier than they actually did. I feel Babar Azam will have to be slightly better in his captaincy as ODI cricket is not like T20 cricket,” said Gambhir.
