Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam has rightly reacted to his critics who have been castigating him and his team-mates day in, day out for their “unsatisfactory” performance in the ongoing Cricket World Cup in India.

Addressing his detractors, he’s said, among other things, that “it’s always easy to give advice on TV”. Everyone has their own point of view, their own way of thinking. Everyone is saying something different….If someone has to give me advice, everyone has my number….”

In other words, Babar Azam, who has unfortunately not fared well as a batsman in this World Cup, told them that they have no inkling of the ground realities, one of which is the anti-Pakistan belligerence of unprecedentedly hostile crowds in each and every match.

It is good that the Pakistan skipper has refused to surrender his World Cup dreams. It is heartening to note that our team finally has found its World Cup rhythm in the nick of time by defeating New Zealand last Saturday.

But the challenge before the Green Shirts now is profoundly formidable, given Pakistan have to defeat defending champions England by at least 287 runs today to oust New Zealand as the fourth and last semi-finalist on net run rate.

No doubt, Pakistan have under-performed in this global cricket event, losing three matches in a row. Having said that, I, as a cricket lover, share Pakistan skipper’s optimism about today’s match against England, a team that has hit a huge low insofar as their performance in the World Cup is concerned.

Najib Warraich (Lahore)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023