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Babar Azam, Pakistan (Image Source: Twitter)
On 1 December 2022, Pakistan began their three-match Test series against England in Rawalpindi. After a long gap of 17 years, England came to Pakistan to play a Test series. However, this series is a great opportunity for Babar Azam and his men. Currently, they are standing in the fifth position in the Test Championship table.
Pakistan have managed only 51.85% in nine matches so far. They have won four matches and lost three matches while drawing two matches. Before the series, skipper Babar Azam also shared that the main aim of the Men in Green is to qualify for the final of the Test Championship. So, fans were expecting a good start from the team.
Fans were not happy with the captaincy of Babar Azam on Day One of the Rawalpindi Test
On the eve of the series opener, Babar Azam attended the press conference. He said: “We are excited about that prospect of playing the WTC final. This is an important series. We have a golden chance to achieve that if we win four of the five Tests to come. We got around a week to prepare for the series so that was great and has given us some edge and momentum. The best thing was that domestic first-class matches were on so some of the players were already playing red-ball cricket. Our bowling is good and will give a tough time to England.”
But, Pakistan bowlers had a disappointing start to the match as England batters thrashed them through the whole Day One. At the end of Day One, England scored 506 runs for four wickets in 75 overs. They became the first team to score more than 500 runs on Day One of a Test match. Even, four different batters smashed hundreds for England on the same day. After watching such a performance, fans started to blame Babar Azam for his poor captaincy. They also blamed him for selecting a poor playing XI based on the conditions.
Here is how fans have slammed Babar Azam for his poor captaincy on Day One of the Rawalpindi Test against England:
Yeah Yeah Misbah won us that series...But if we had lost it then surely It would have been Babar's Fault🤭
— Abdul Wahab (@Awahabo_o) December 1, 2022
Bring back Misbah in test circuit and reduce powers of Babar who is an extremely poor tactician. Also sack Ramiz Raja.
— Hassan (@Gotoxytop2) December 1, 2022
One of the best thing with Misbah as a Captain was that he knew every player of circuit... Babar has no idea.
— Adnan (@Adnan__Siddiqui) December 1, 2022
under Misbah, we had a clear identity as to how we played Test cricket and that's been missing ever since.
— cric 𓃵 (@cricanadian) December 1, 2022
Babar's Pakistan needs to figure out what home conditions they can thrive and win in, and produce pitches that help their attack take 20 wickets.#PAKvENG
Lol @ the comparison between Babar and Misbah as Captains some time ago on the TL.
— Cricketing Thoughts (@ThinkingCric) December 1, 2022
Misbah won 26 Test matches as Captain. Babar would be lucky to even get to half of that. #WTC23 #PAKvENG
Sir series ka 1st session aisa Hoga to kon 3 test series dekhy ga?
— Syed Atif (@GreatKingMisbah) December 1, 2022
Plz sack panoti Babar and Ramiz Dhakkan @CMShehbaz #PAKvENG
Exactly. Phattu-tareen kaptaani.
— aisha. (@ain744) December 1, 2022
Misbah played in UAE and still made sure to use pitches that suited his bowlers. https://t.co/FJ96IjH7pN
Yaad hai jab Abbas, Hassan Ali aur Yasir Shah bowling karte thay. Misbah kaptaan hota tha.
— Ali (@aliarfan_) December 1, 2022