Wasim Akram slams Pakistan captain Babar Azam's leadership: 'This is not a mohalla team'

Legendary Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram has been left extremely furious with Babar Azam's captaincy following the men in green's shocking defeat to Zimbabwe on Thursday. The 56-year-old questioned why Babar did not try to get star all-rounder Shoaib Malik in the side despite Pakistan's weakness in the middle order.

Wasim Akram slams Pakistan captain Babar Azam

While speaking to A Sports, Wasim Akram said, "Since one year, we (Shoaib Malik, Waqar Younis and Misbah-ul-haq) knew that the middle order is slightly weak. Now Shoaib Malik is sitting here. If I was the captain, what would have been my end goal...to win the World Cup. If to achieve that, I need to make a fool also play, I would do so because I want to win the World Cup."

As for Malik's absence from Pakistan's T20 World Cup team, Akram added, "If I want Shoaib Malik, then I will go and tell the chairman and the selector that I will not play the World Cup until and unless I get my player. But no one is like this. Babar will need to be more intelligent. This is not a mohalla team where whoever I want will come. If I was there (the captain), I would have first selected Malik in the middle order."

Pakistan suffer shock defeat against Zimbabwe

The Pakistan cricket team and their fans were left rattled following the side's shocking defeat to Zimbabwe on Thursday. Despite reducing Zimbabwe to just 131 runs after 20 overs, Pakistan suffered a batting collapse and failed to chase down the target. After getting dismissed in single digits in Pakistan's T20 World Cup opener against India, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan once again had a poor display with the bat. Azam was dismissed for four runs while Rizwan only managed to score 14.

The only Pakistan batsman that made a decent contribution with the bat against Zimbabwe was Shan Masood. Masood scored 44 runs off 38 deliveries, an inning that included three fours. He made a solid partnership of 52 runs for the fourth wicket alongside all-rounder Shadab Khan, but once the latter was dismissed for 17, the Pakistani wickets fell like a pack of cards. From being at 88-4 at the end of 13.4 overs, Pakistan were reduced to just 129-8 after their 20 overs, thereby helping Zimbabwe register a historic win.