New Delhi: Pakistan star Babar Azam has continued his poor run in the T20 World Cup, and his latest failure against England sparked a wave of memes on social media. Batting first against England at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, Babar scored 25 runs off 24 balls before he was bowled by Jamie Overton while trying to play a big shot.
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His slow innings increased criticism about his level and strike rate in the tournament. It also became a reason for it being used as a meme template on social media platforms.
Pakistan managed 164/9 in their 20 overs, with Sahibzada Farhan top-scoring with 63. England’s bowlers, including Overton, Jofra Archer, William Dawson and Adil Rashid, kept things tight and picked up key wickets.Earlier, Pakistan coach Mike Hesson clarified Babar’s role in the team, saying that he was brought back to provide stability in the middle order rather than scoring pace in the power play.“I think he’s very aware that his strike rate in the power play in the T20 World Cup is below 100. So that’s clearly not the role we think we need here. We think he’s a good middle-order player, if needed, especially if we’re having some problems. Or, as we saw against the USA, once he gets ready, he can increase his strike rate at that point. So, we brought Babar back in a specific role after the Asia Cup.”
We wanted some batting skills up the middle, and he certainly brings that to us. Despite this, fans have mocked Babar’s travails online, turning his recent sending off into a meme as his nightmare World Cup campaign continues.