ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Babar Azam Accused Of Lobbying, Ex-PAK Player Exposes Star Batter's Controversial Captaincy Tenure

ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Pakistan cricket and controversies have co-existed forever, but the PCB refrains from doing anything about it. Rumors of rifts in the dressing room, issues related to lobbying, are something that has always existed in Pakistan cricket, and it has now started to show its effect. Though Mohammad Rizwan has been appointed as the skipper of the Pakistan team, the rot in Pakistan's cricket culture runs deep. There is more to it than what meets the eye. 

Babar Azam was seen as the next big thing in Pakistan cricket, and the PCB had plans to build a cricketing culture around him, but Babar's tenure as the Pakistan skipper was nothing but controversial. Many former Pakistan players have accused Babar of lobbying and picking his friends in the national team.

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Umar Akmal Exposes Babar Azam

Kamran Akmal's brother and former Pakistan batter, Umar Akmal has blamed Babar Azam for the current state of the Pakistan cricket team. Umar Akmal burst into the international arena showing great potential, but he soon faded away and his career has now come to a standstill. Pakistan who are defending the Champions Trophy title succumbed to an embarrassing defeat against New Zealand in their campaign opener.

On the eve of the much-awaited India vs Pakistan Champions Trophy clash, Umar Akmal exposed Babar Azam and his controversial tenure as the skipper of the side. 'I told Babar that look give me a fair chance. You are doing well in the top order and I can be your finisher and we can win matches regularly and it will be good for Pakistan cricket, He didn’t listen to me and for five years when he was captain he never bothered to try to build a strong bench because only teams with good back up players do consistently well in all formats', said Umar Akmal.

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Babar Azam Continues To Struggle In International Cricket

Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan showed great faith in Babar Azam after assigning him the responsibility of opening the innings. But his decision has completely backfired and Azam's slow batting is being seen as one of the major reasons why Pakistan lost the Champions Trophy opener to New Zealand. While chasing 321 runs, Babar Azam scored 64 runs off 90 deliveries with a strike rate of 71.11.

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