Former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal came into the picture out of nowhere and brutally criticized the captaincy of Babar Azam. Akmal’s statement came in the aftermath of the five-match T20I series between Pakistan and New Zealand. Notably, the series ended up with a draw by a margin of 2-2 including a called-off game in the fourth T20I.
Akmal stated that Babar is not that much competent in his role as a skipper for the national side of Pakistan in the last four years.
"Speaking of their mistakes, they deflect and accuse us of criticism," Akmal said. "But our focus is on their captaincy, not their performance. We're not blind to their abilities. He still doesn't know how to do captaincy after four years - he doesn't even know which bowler to give to ball to at what time,” said Kamran Akmal in a video on his YouTube channel.
"It's no surprise that they lost when they continued to make the same mistakes. We didn't control our errors, and that's why they emerged victorious,” he added later.
Although these comments from Kamran Akmal for Babar Azam didn’t go down well with a bigger section of the Pakistan cricket fans and ardent Babar Azam fans as well. They took to Twitter to come up with some brutal, hard, and fast-lined trolling remarks for Akmal. Fans also questioned Akmal’s skills as a wicketkeeper-batter during his international career for Pakistan.
Here’s how fans reacted:
Babar ki class hai.
— Hania Malik (@haniwannaflyy) April 26, 2023
akmal jaisay cousins khandan mai b zalil hotay or media pe bhi. Babar issay answer b nhi kray ga.
Kamran bhai Mashallah kea baat ki haaa...
— Muhammad_Alamgir (@alamgirraja94) April 26, 2023
Aap ne almost 15 saal kheli cricket or ap ko keepry nai krne ayi aj tak 😂😂
Kamran Akmal wo banda hai jo hr wqt Babar k against bakwas krta rehta hai. Ye koi nayee bat nahi hai.
— Wali Rehman (@walirehman903) April 26, 2023
An idiom:
— ishmalAltaf Cheema (@AltafIshmal) April 26, 2023
Before criticizing , one should look into one's neck and speak 🗣️ 🙊
No human being is perfect.#BabarAzam𓃵
is this the same guy who used to drop all catcher behind the stump. so much jealousy from babar azam. must say umar akmal> kamran akmal
— Hufflepuff🇵🇰 || (@Lifezweirdz) April 26, 2023
Babar ka khilaaf bolna tu kaaam hai aj kal logo ka
— EshaMalik❤️ (@Eshawasim1) April 26, 2023
Babar or kamran akmal ki families ko kbi sath ne deka jealousy nazr ati hai inki babar se
— Mahnoor 🌌 (@Mahnoor_khan26) April 26, 2023
Cousin ho or burai na kary? 😂
— Maha (@Hello_JiKon) April 26, 2023
He can't catch a football, he's jealous of him
— Tashfeen Malik (@Tashfeen_Malik1) April 26, 2023
Later on, Kamran Akmal also talked about Pakistan’s approach to using bowlers against the left-handers of New Zealand in the T20I series. He batted for Iftikhar Ahmed to bowl to the Southpaws.
“If both the left-handed batsmen were on the crease, the logical choice would have been to give the ball to Iftikhar Ahmed," the 41-year-old said. "But instead, we saw the leg-spinner Shadab Khan being given the over and was being continuously smashed by the New Zealand batters,” said Akmal.