Ex Pakistan Captain Slams Babar Azam For "Negative" Captaincy In Asia Cup Final

Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan slammed Babar Azam for his "negative"  captaincy in the Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka. In a discussion on Boss News, Moin pointed out that Babar Azam w=should have attacked more when Sri Lanka had lost half their side in the first 10 overs. He said that Babar failed to set attacking fields and should have bowled his strike bowlers to bring about an early end to the Sri Lankan innings. Sri Lanka were reduced to 58/5 in 8.5 overs but went on to score 170 and Moin put the blame squarely on Babar.

"The way Sri Lanka came back after losing 5 wickets and how Rajapaksa played like a senior pro, I think it was a commendable performance and I want to congratulate them. 

"I think when they (Pakistan) got a wicket through a part-time bowler then they should have backed him and also kept a slip. As Rashid (Latif) said Babar should have bowled with his strike bowler. This what common sense is when you are captaining a side.

"Don't know why he was trying to stretch the match. He (Babar) must have started thinking about the death overs. When you start getting negative, you can't plan. You play attacking cricket when you are positive. So I think we played into Sri Lanka's hands by not setting attacking field and bowling our strike bowlers when we had the upper hand.

"They bowled badly and the bowling changes were equally bad," Moin opined.

This was Sri Lanka's sixth Asia Cup triumph. Pakistan has won it twice while India has won the continental event 7 times.

Topics mentioned in this article

Pakistan Cricket Team Sri Lanka Cricket Team Moin Khan Babar Azam Mohammad Rizwan Asia Cup, 2022 Cricket