Star Pakistan batter Babar Azam is yet to find his lost rhythm back and former skipper Shoaib Akhtar has now given him a final ultimatum. Despite being the top ranked ODI batter in the world, Babar is time and again failing to register a big knock. After a poor show in the first Test against, Babar was dropped from the squad for the rest of the two games and Pakistan clinched the three-match series 2-1. Later, the 30-year-old batter played in the white-ball series against Australia but returned with only 47 runs in three T20Is and 80 runs in as many ODIs.
As Pakistan now have a new white-ball coach, Aqib Javed, Akhtar stated that Babar needs to prove himself again in order to protect his place in the team.
"He is our star player. I back him, but the thing is with the new management, new mindset, he has to change his neurological wiring because the new management will not consider him in T20s, as a matter of fact, even for the ODIs," said Akhtar during an interaction on a Pakistani TV channel.
The former paceman also stated that Babar needs to hit at least match-winning centuries for Pakistan in the upcoming Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to take place in February 2025.
"Otherwise the Champions Trophy is the time and the place where Babar needs to be on the forefront for Pakistan. He should dominate the tournament and needs to score three match-winning hundreds in the Champions Trophy to prove himself in the format. Otherwise, the path will be very difficult," he said.
Pakistan are the original host of the ICC 2025 Champions Trophy but are likely to agree to conduct it in a hybrid model after the Border of Control for India (BCCI) informed the ICC that the Indian government has refused to allow the team to travel across the border to play in Pakistan.
About PCB's threat that Pakistan will not travel to India to play ICC events in future, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh said they are free to make their own call.
"If Pakistan does not want to travel to India in the future, it is their call. Tournaments will happen without their participation as well," Harbhajan Singh had told IANS.
(With IANS Inputs)