Ramiz Raja, former Pakistan cricketer and the Chairman in Pakistan Cricket Board, is in favor of batter Babar Azam who has recently been out of form. In opening Test match, Pakistan lost to Bangladesh and that too by 10 wickets held at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, placing Babar’s performance further in the firing line.

Ramiz Raja Supports Babar Azam

In opening Test Babar did not perform well, with only 0 and 22 runs under his name. He nearly went out in the second innings without scoring any runs as well, but Litton Das gave him a second chance. This however did little to redeem the situation as Pakistan went on to record its first Test defeat ever to Bangladesh. The loss has raised so much criticism directed to Babar who had been the center of satirical discussions due to his dismal performance. Ramiz Raja has come to his defense, however, claiming it’s a common practice to attack a popular cricketer and also analyzed that social media is part of the cause of increase in this attention, and that this targeting of cricketers should be controlled.

“It seems the entire nation does not have a problem with anything except the form of Babar Azam. Unfortunately, what happens is when you lose a match and you have not scored runs and if you are Babar Azam, then you become a headline – How did we lose? What did he do? What was his contribution? And then this is the era of social media. Anybody can criticize and ridicule anyone, this should be discouraged as much as possible,” Ramiz said on his YouTube channel.

“Cricket is in our blood but don’t know for how long if we continue to lose matches like this in Test cricket. Fan following increases with wins and fans identify themselves with success stories. Babar Azam has had a famous success story. There is no doubt that he has been a big player in all three formats,” he said.

In the last 14 innings Babar Azam went on without a half century. He has only scored 289 runs with an average of 20.46, recording the highest score of 41. Babar Azam has stooped down to number 9 position in the latest ICC Test Batting Rankings. The Pakistani batter will be looking forward to redeem himself and perform in the second Test against Bangladesh.

Rain Washes Out Day 1 Of 2nd Test In Rawalpindi

The Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed that the day one of second test was called off. This was due to persistent rain in Rawalpindi on Friday, August 30.

Pakistan will be looking for a chance to bounce back and forget the heartbreaking first Test defeat against Bangladesh.

Pakistan has added Abrar Ahmed, the right off-spinner in their squad. Captain Shan Masood and head coach Jason Gillespie will now need to form a strategy keeping in mind the conditions before setting the final playing XI.