Pakistan batter Azam Khan was trolled brutally on social media after getting dismissed for a golden duck during the T20 World Cup 2024 match against United States on Thursday. Azam has been struggling to score runs for quite some time and even during the T20I series against England, he faced a lot of criticism both from fans and experts after a slew of low scores and fielding blunders. During Pakistan’s T20 World Cup opener, Azam came out to bat with his team under pressure and was trapped LBW by Nosthush Kenjige on the very first delivery. Social media users blasted him for his form and even referred to the ‘nepotism’ debate around him as he is the son of former Pakistan captain Moin Khan.
If Nepotism & forced entry had a face..
Azam Khan..
BUt PCB has no shame..#USAvspAk #PakvUSA #PakvsUSA #USAvPAKBobsy fakhar Rizwan usman Babar Azam pic.twitter.com/2fSj0xPwHC— Imperial Tiffin (@Yash_Dhawan_) June 6, 2024
Monank Patel-led USA won the toss and decided to bowl against Babar Azam’s Pakistan.
Azam Khan is a player whom cricket history will never forget.pic.twitter.com/1dYnK0BzK2
— Vishal. (@SPORTYVISHAL) June 6, 2024
US had a great start to the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 after they clinched a seven-wicket win against Canada in the opening match of the tournament. Currently, the US are standing in second place on the Group A standings of the T20 World Cup 2024 with two points.
Azam Khan plays on merit.
Le merit:#PAKvsAUS pic.twitter.com/3NTA1pk9yz
— Heisenberg (@rovvmut_) June 6, 2024
Meanwhile, Pakistan are coming into the tournament after a disappointing T20 series loss against England. The ‘Men in Green’ are not in their best form but will be looking forward to starting the campaign on a good note.
The US skipper Monank Patel said that they want to make sure they play their best cricket.
“We will bowl first. We have been playing on the same surface and chasing is easy on this ground, also it is better to know the target. It was a great game and we want to continue that momentum. It is a new challenge and we want to make sure we play our best cricket. One change for us,” Monank said.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam confirmed Imad Wasim suffered an injury and will be playing with four pacers against the US. “We would have also bowled first. It is a morning match, the pitch is fresh and we will look to put the runs on the board. Good to see sun is out, we haven’t seen sunshine for the last 3-4 days. He (Imad) has an injury but we will cover it up by playing the four fast bowlers,” Babar said.
Pakistan Playing XI: Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (Wk), Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Haris Rauf.
United States Playing XI: Steven Taylor, Monank Patel (Wk/C), Andries Gous, Aaron Jones, Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan.
(With ANI inputs)
