T20 World Cup 2024: Imam defends Babar Azam after Shehzad's 'Fake King' remarks

Pakistan's opening batter in the ODI format, Imam-ul-Haq, came to the defense of skipper Babar Azam after Ahmed Shehzad referred to Babar as a "fake king."

Shehzad's comments have stirred controversy, and Imam did not hold back in addressing the issue.

"He’s your captain, you don’t want to consider him as a captain, it’s fine. The world has made him the king, you haven’t," Imam said.

Imam emphasized that Babar should be respected for his contributions to the team, having played 250 international matches. While he did not justify Babar's recent lack of performance, Imam insisted that his statistics from the last 20 matches should not overshadow his achievements over the last 250 matches. 

He stressed the importance of respecting Babar's overall contribution to Pakistan cricket.

"Is there anyone who have been the number one in Pakistan’s ODI ranking as well as in the T20I," he said.

"All of us have played for Pakistan and all of us have the right to criticize. None of us are satisfied with the team’s performance against India, but remember that the element of respect should not be ignored," he added.

The opening batters' remarks came in response to Shehzad's criticism, where he compared his own statistics with Babar's during the show on Wednesday. 

"I feel I could've done better than those stats. But your (Babar's) stats are worse than mine... You've faced 205 balls in powerplays in T20 World Cups, but you haven't managed to hit one six!" Shehzad had said.