Known for their humorous posts on social media, Iceland Cricket have taken a fresh aim at Pakistan star batter Babar Azam, who recently stepped down as captain of the team across formats. Babar relinquished his captaincy amid backlash over Pakistan’s early exit from the Cricket World Cup 2023. Babar had a below par tournament with the bat as Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals. He scored 320 runs in the nine matches, averaging less than 40. Taking to social media platform X, Iceland Cricket trolled Babar over his average.
Responding to a post, which read “What is something that still hasn’t gone back to normal after the pandemic?”, Iceland Cricket replied, saying: “The batting average of Babar Azam”.
The batting average of Babar Azam https://t.co/huYKEAD8uP
— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket) November 26, 2023
Babar’s captaincy came under the spotlight after Pakistan lost to minnows Afghanistan in the World Cup. Pakistan lost five of their nine matches and finished fifth in the points table.
Team director Mickey Arthur and head coach Grant Bradburn have been removed from their positions with former skipper Mohammad Hafeez taking over both their roles.
Wahab Riaz, another former fast bowler, was appointed chief selector following Inzamam-ul-Haq‘s resignation and stressed performers in domestic competition were chosen for the three-match Test tour.
With Pakistan set to tour Australia for a three-match Test series starting next month, the country’s cricket board announced the appointment of two new captains.
While batter Shan Masood will lead the team in Test, pacer Shaheen Afridi will spearhead the T20I side.
Pakistan have performed poorly in Australia, however, losing 14 Tests on the trot with a last success in 1995.
The series starts with the first Test in Perth (December 14-18) followed by the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne (26-30) and Sydney (January 3-7).
Uncapped fast bowler Khurram Shahzad is rewarded for being the highest wicket-taker in the country’s premier first-class tournament this year with 36.
Dashing left-hander Saim Ayub and allrounder Aamer Jamal have represented Pakistan in Twenty20 internationals but are untested in the five-day format.
Shaheen is the only fast bowler to have played in Australia, while Naseem Shah was not considered as he was still recovering from a shoulder injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.
Squad: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Agha Salman, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi
(With AFP Inputs)
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