‘Were you here to sell chickpeas?’: Wasim Akram tears into Babar Azam's Pakistan captaincy after England debacle

'Were you here to sell chickpeas?': Wasim Akram tears into Babar Azam's Pakistan captaincy after England debacle originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Wasim Akram mocked Babar Azam's claim that he had no knowledge of Pakistan's mid-tour squad overhaul.

He said Babar should have relinquished the Test captaincy after Pakistan's second defeat to England.

Akram is the latest in a growing line of former Pakistan players to publicly criticise Babar's leadership.

Advertisement

Wasim Akram isn't impressed by Babar Azam's performance in England

Pakistan's 3-0 Test whitewash in England last month has generated no shortage of criticism over the past week.

However, former skipper Wasim Akram's intervention carries greater weight given his standing as one of the finest captains the country has produced. For him, Azam failed to live up to the expectations.

Speaking at a charity fundraising event in Manchester alongside Waqar Younis, Akram went after Babar Azam's account of how the tour's chaotic mid-series overhaul was actually handled.

The comments go back to the toss before the third Test in Birmingham, when Babar was asked about the PCB's decision to send seven players home and sack head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul.

Advertisement

Babar responded that he had no idea about the changes, saying it was news to him too and that questions should be directed to the board instead. That answer, delivered by the man nominally in charge of the side, is what triggered Akram's sharpest line of the day.

Recalling the moment, he questioned what exactly Babar's role as captain amounted to if he was kept in the dark about a decision of that magnitude.

MORE: Mohammad Rizwan gambling and betting allegations: Pakistan star knocks on ICC door amid NCCIA investigation

What did Wasim Akram say about Babar Azam's captaincy in England?

Akram did not hold back in his assessment of what Babar's admission actually revealed about his position within the setup.

Advertisement

"Babar Azam said he did not know. If you don't know, then what were you doing here? Were you here to sell chickpeas?" Akram said.

He then explained why a captain being sidelined from major decisions damages the entire team, not just the individual involved. "As a player or as a person, I believe that if your leader or captain does not stand by you, you cannot give 100 per cent," he added.

Akram went further, questioning the original decision to hand Babar the Test captaincy at all when he replaced Shan Masood earlier this year.

"I do not want to blame anyone, and I could be wrong as well. But in my opinion, Babar should not have taken the captaincy. All of this was unnecessary," he said.

Advertisement

He offered a specific alternative for how Babar could have handled the situation once it became clear the board was operating without his input.

"My suggestion is that after the second Test, Babar should have said that he would play only as a player," Akram said.

MORE: Ex-India selector warns Abhishek Sharma, Sooryavanshi over away struggles

Why the criticism keeps landing on Babar rather than the PCB

Akram's comments extend a pattern that has become increasingly familiar around Pakistan cricket, where scrutiny consistently gravitates towards the captain and the playing group rather than the board that actually made the disputed decisions.

Advertisement

Before Akram, Shoaib Akhtar had already described Babar as a weak personality. Meanwhile, Rashid Latif went further still, labelling him a dummy captain.

Part of that reluctance to target the PCB directly is difficult to separate from the board's own leadership structure, given chairman Mohsin Naqvi also serves as Pakistan's interior minister, a dual role that makes open criticism of the institution considerably riskier than criticising a cricketer.

Whether or not that political reality shapes how freely former players speak, the substance of Akram's point stands regardless. For him, a captain discovering major changes to his own squad through a press conference question is a genuine failure of communication.

Moreover, whether that failure sits with Babar for not pushing harder or with a board that never thought to consult him is a question Pakistan cricket has yet to answer honestly.

Advertisement

Click here to read article