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Babar Azam and Kris Srikkanth (File Photo: Internet)
Former India batter Kris Srikkanth has lashed out at the Pakistan skipper and star batter Babar Azam for the team’s poor outing in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. Notably, the team has already been knocked out of contention for the super-8 stage of the tournament after two consecutive defeats in the first two matches of the tournament.
Coming back to Srikkanth, he didn’t look pleased with the performance of Babar Azam as a batter considering his strike rate of only 112-115.
“I don't think Babar should play T20 cricket. I mean you can't do this tuk-tuking all the time in T20 cricket. They say Babar scored 4,000 runs like Virat or Rohit, but his strike rate is only 112-115 what are you talking about?” said Kris Srikkanth during a live show on Star Sports before the game between Pakistan and Ireland.
Babar Azam’s poor strike-rate run continues with the bat
Interestingly, Babar Azam is currently the highest run-scorer in the T20Is but still, he is also one of the batters with the lowest strike rates. Babar Azam has scored 4113 runs in115 T20I innings, with an average of 40.72 and a poor strike rate of 129.46, hitting 3 centuries and 36 half-centuries.
However, the batters following him, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have better strike rates than Babar Azam, with 137.90 and 139.66. Both Kohli and Rohit have scored 4042 runs each in 112 and 146 T20I innings, respectively.
Babar Azam has been on the receiving end of criticism from a lot of former cricketers for his poor strike rate in the T20Is. Pakistan have also underperformed under the captaincy of Babar Azam in the last couple of major ICC tournaments, including the ICC World Test Championship 2021 and 2023, the ODI World Cup 2023 and the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024.