Past Pakistan Batsman Salman Butt criticized Sikander Bakht for his unpleasant remarks about Babar Azam. Bakht has come under fire from the Pakistani star after announcing his decision to step down as Pakistan’s white-ball captain.
After leading Pakistan in all three formats, Babar stepped down from the captaincy last year after the team’s poor performance in the ODI World Cup. Shan Masood replaced him as Test captain and Shaheen Afridi as T20I captain.
However, Afridi was sacked after just one series as captain and Babar was reinstated as the T20I captain by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Babar could not justify this decision. Under his captaincy, Pakistan drew the home series against the second-ranked New Zealand side, lost the T20I against Ireland and lost the series in England before exiting the T20 World Cup in the group stage.
While many expected Babar to be sacked immediately after the T20 World Cup, the PCB decided against it. But now Babar himself has decided to give up the Pakistan captaincy. Earlier this week, the right-handed batsman announced his decision to step down as captain.
However, his decision was not liked by many, including Bakht. Soon after Babar announced his decision, Bakht decided to mock him. Bakht said that Babar should have felt a bit embarrassed and resigned from the captaincy immediately after Pakistan’s T20 World Cup campaign ended.
“Ab sharam ayi! (Finally, shame on you!) As soon as our World Cup ended on June 16, he should have resigned at the same time because we couldn’t qualify any more. All the people said he should have resigned. But he was stubborn.
“He was king because of his style (Sarcastic). His performance was not good and theirs was not good. Anyway, they should have seen us sent off in two ways. I don’t know what happened,” Bakht told Geo News.
Salman Butt hits out at Sikander Bakht:
As Sikander Bakht slammed Babar Azam, Salman Butt sprang to the latter’s defence. Speaking on one of the local TV channels, Salman Butt harshly criticized Bakht for his unpleasant remarks against Babar and said that he does not respect the batsman because he has no respect for himself.
Salman Butt also mentioned that Babar was one of the most consistent batsmen in the history of cricket for Pakistan. The former captain of Pakistan concluded his words by saying that even though Bakht did not like Babar, he should have been careful with his words.
“Respect can only be given by a person who owns it. If you don’t have something, how can you offer it to others? It’s a shame that you talk like this about the best performer of Pakistan cricket in recent years. There was no one before him or even now for Pakistan.” Salman Butt said.
“Like or dislike is a natural process. Even if you don’t have anything positive for someone, you can choose your words carefully considering the height of the person in front of you and speak accordingly,” he added.
“Unfortunately, this comment is about who (Babar Azam) is the most consistent batsman in Pakistan because no one has been as consistent as him.”
Salman Butt pic.twitter.com/RLL9afhxIH
— Abu Bakar Tarar (@abubakartarar_) October 3, 2024
