The Pakistan cricket team had a horrible outing in the T20 World Cup 2024 as the Babar Azam-led side crashed out of the competition in the group stage. They were beaten by United States and India in their opening two matches and although they did beat Canada and Ireland, it was too little too late for them. The unceremonious exit led to massive criticism of the Pakistan cricket team – both by fans and experts – with fingers being pointed towards captain Babar Azam. The fallout of the exit even reached the Pakistan parliament where Abdul Qadir Patel, a member of parliament, took a dig at Babar for performing horribly in the T20 World Cup with a reference to former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“Ye cricket team ko kya hua hai. Yeh America se bhi haar gaye. Yeh India se bhi haar gaye toh Babar Azam ko apne hi kisi senior cricketer se sabak lete hue haarne ke baad ek jalsa rakhe, woh usme kagaz lehraye bole dekho yeh mere khilaf saazish ho rahi hai, koi usse kuch nahi puchega. Uske baad jo hai woh baat hi khatam ho jayegi (What’s wrong with our cricket team? They lost to America, they lost to India. Babar Azam should take a lesson from one of his senior cricketers [Hinting at Imran Khan] and throw a party after losing where he should wave some documents in public stating, ‘There’s been a conspiracy against me.’ No one will question him after that, and the matter will be over.)”.
Babar Azam Trolled in Pakistan’s Parliament very badly. A sad moment for Pakistan’s captain.#Babarazam
— Darshit Trivedi (@Darshit1109) June 22, 2024
Meanwhile, after allegations of spot-fixing and match-fixing against the Pakistan cricket team surfaced online, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has asked those making such claims to come up with “proof”.
The board also said that legal action will be taken against the ones if any allegation is made without any proof. The statement from PCB was not official as Cricket Pakistan quoted a source from the governing body.
While the source confirmed that the PCB is aware of the “negative comments”, it termed the accusations as “baseless”. It is worth noting that such allegations against Babar Azam and Co. are surfacing after their early exit from T20 World Cup 2024.
“We are fully aware of these negative comments. Criticism within the bounds of the game is acceptable and there is no objection to it. However, baseless allegations like match-fixing cannot be tolerated under any circumstances,” said a PCB source as quoted in media reports.
