It isn't often that Pakistan and India play each other on the international circuit but comparisons between the players of the two teams and their results often keep fans engaged on social media. As fans turned the heat on Pakistan following their failures in the Asia Cup 2022 and the T20I series against England, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja highlighted the different scales on which Pakistan and their arch-rivals India are measured.
Over the past few assignments, even the greatest of Pakistani players have found it difficult to not be in the line of fire. Skipper Babar Azam and wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan have been criticised by many for their 'poor strike-rates' in the T20 format.
Much like Virat Kohli, who scored a ton in the Asia Cup against Afghanistan, Babar Azam also scored a century. But, Ramiz Raja pointed out the difference in the mood of the two fan groups. While India rejoiced Kohli's 71st international century, Babar continued to be questioned over his underwhelming strike-rate even when he scored 110 against England in the recently-concluded series.
"Previously we used to falter at the very first hurdle. Yes we reached the final and yes we did not play well. But it's okay to have a bad day. But there were others teams as well in the Asia Cup. I mean then India should then have been severely criticised for not reaching the final. But that is not what their fans and media do.
"I'll tell you, when Virat Kohli scored a century against Afghanistan, they forgot their entire Asia Cup. Will we ever do that? What we say is that Babar Azam scored a ton, but his strike rate was 135 while David Warner's was 147.3. So this is useless," Ramiz said in a discussion on Samaa TV.
Pakistan, who reached the semi-final of the T20 World Cup last year, haven't been in the best of form going into the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup.