Babar Azam was accused by his cousin brother of never wanting to build Pakistan's bench strength.
Photo : AP
Babar Azam, the former captain, was accused of failing to build a bench strength for the Pakistan cricket team during his five-year tenure at the helm.
Discarded Test batter Umar Akmal, who has been out of the national side since 2019, criticised Babar and put the blame entirely on the 30-year-old.
"Babar was captain for nearly five years, most of the time in all formats, and he never tried to build up the bench strength due to his likes and dislikes," Umar told a TV channel.
Akmal also revealed that when he was in good form and scoring runs in domestic cricket, he approached Babar for a chance to make a comeback.
"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 said.
However, Umar said his request was ignored.
"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," he added.
Umar, who is Babar's cousin, represented Pakistan in 16 Tests, 121 ODIs, and 84 T20Is before being dropped from the national team in 2019.
Akmal is not the only one who has accused Babar of selfishness. Former Pakistani spinner Danish Kaneria has also criticized Babar Azam for prioritising personal milestones.
"If we talk about Babar Azam, he is playing for himself. When he is under pressure, he focuses on keeping his stats and ICC ranking intact," Kaneria told PTI Video.
"I have scored a fifty, I have done it. But where is the intent of winning the match for your side?", Kaneria questioned.
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