Sports

Kamran Akmal sledges Babar Azam for his captaincy skills

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

Kamran Akmal, Pakistan’s former wicketkeeper-batter, sledged national cricket team captain Babar Azam for his poor captaincy skills in the T20 International series against New Zealand.

Akmal, taking to his YouTube channel, said the 28-year-old skipper hasn’t learnt to do captaincy even in the four years.

The ex-member of the national men’s team — who has played 53 Tests, 157 ODIs and 58 T20Is — said blunders were made in the last T20I, as bowlers in the team were not used properly.

“We lost because of our own mistakes and nobody is ready to accept that. In the last T20I, we made blunders, we didn’t use our bowlers properly. We failed to defend a good total with our bowlers who have done well in the recent past,” he said.

Akmal added that there is a difference between performance and captaincy.

“If you talk about all this, they say we are criticising. There is a difference between performance and captaincy. Who is talking about performance, we are not blind, we are seeing captaincy. It’s been four years and still, he [Babar] doesn’t know how to do captaincy,” the former wicketkeeper-batter highlighted.

The 41-year-old veteran cricketer thinks that Babar, who is also his cousin, should have utilised Iftikhar Ahmed when Mark Chapman and Jimmy Neesham, both left-handers, built a match-winning partnership during the fifth and series-deciding T20I in Rawalpindi.

“If both the left-handed batsmen were on the crease, the logical choice would have been to give the ball to Iftikhar Ahmed. But instead, we saw the leg-spinner Shadab Khan being given the over and was being continuously smashed by the New Zealand batters,” he said.

Akmal said that cricket in Pakistan is suffering. “Our main bowlers conceded 40+ runs which cost us. We need to think about it,” he concluded.

Chapman and Neesham scored a match-winning partnership of 121 runs as New Zealand won the fifth T20I to level the five-match series 2-2. The two teams will now meet in five-match ODI series, starting on April 27 in Rawalpindi.

Latest News

Tickets for the Pakistan-India match were sold out in a matter of minutes.

Published

24 hours ago

Farwa

The International Cricket Council (ICC) reports that tickets for the much awaited Pakistan-India encounter in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which is set to take place in Dubai, were sold out in a matter of minutes.

The tremendous demand for the Pakistan-India match underscores the fierce rivalry and excitement surrounding the tournament, even though tickets for the semi-finals are currently on sale.

Pavilion-specific ticket prices ranged from 500 AED for regular pavilion tickets to 1,200 AED to 5,000 AED for premium seats. The price of the elite Grand Lounge VIP packages was 12,500 AED, or roughly PKR 500,000.

On Tuesday, tickets will also go on sale for India’s first semi-final in Dubai as well as their final two group matches. Tickets for general stands are available for purchase online with prices for general stands starting at 125 AED.

Latest News

ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Today marks the start of the second phase of ticket sales.

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

Today marks the start of the second phase of the ICC Champions Trophy ticket sale.
Tickets for the opening match of mega event between Pakistan and New Zealand already sold out in the first Phase.
Following the Online sale of Tickets Last week, Physical Tickets for the Eight-Team competition will go on sale from Today.
Tickets for Matches in Pakistan including Group Stage Fixtures and the second Semi-Final will be Available at 108 Outlets of courier Service across the Country.
The Physical Tickets will be available to fans in 26 Cities of Pakistan.

For the ten matches that will be held in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi, general stand tickets will start at 1,000 Pakistan Rupees, while premium seats in various categories will start at 1,500 Pakistan Rupees.
Tickets for the India matches scheduled for February 20 and 23 and March 2 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, will be made available as soon as possible.

Latest News

Will the Champions Trophy 2025 miss an opening ceremony?

Published

6 days ago

Farwa

The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 may commence without the traditional opening ceremony or captains’ press conference due to a modified arrival schedule for the participating teams.

This year, the England and Australia cricket teams will arrive in Pakistan nearer to the commencement of the event.

Sources inside the International Cricket Council (ICC) have verified that teams, including England and Australia, will arrive in Pakistan following their separate tours.

England is set to complete its tour of India by February 12, but Australia will conclude their series in Sri Lanka on February 14.

Consequently, both teams have retracted from the warm-up matches, a decision aligned with prior ICC events, where tardy attendance hindered practice matches.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) indicated interest in staging an opening ceremony; but, logistical issues related to the teams’ arrival dates resulted in its postponement.

The PCB stated that although the occurrence was not officially verified, it has consistently been regarded as a potentiality.

Although the opening ceremony and press conference have been cancelled, the PCB is dedicated to organising an alternative event to commemorate the importance of hosting the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time in 29 years.

The inaugural match of the tournament, featuring Pakistan and New Zealand, is set for February 19 in Karachi.

The PCB has stated that a celebration for fans will be organized ahead of the match to highlight the excitement surrounding the event.