Watch: Babar Azam gives mouth-shutting reply to Ramiz Raja over ‘select T20 players in Tests’ comments
Ramiz Raja, Babar Azam (Image Credit: Twitter)
For the first time in the history of Pakistan Cricket, the team has been clean-swept at home in a Test series. This month, they hosted England for a three-match Test series after 17 years. It was a historical series as the Three Lions arrived on Pakistani shores after 2005. However, as it turned out, the series was nothing short of a nightmare for the Babar Azam-led side.
During every game, the World Number Six Test side had no answer to England’s brilliance on the field. Even though the home team was in the game for a brief moment in the second Test, however, the visitors were in the ascendency most times. Meanwhile, after the Rawalpindi Test, PCB chairperson Ramiz Raja had advised the Pakistan skipper to include T20 specialists in Tests to match the competition from England.
“Like England for example, I suggested to Babar that England are playing the T20 format in a five-day version, so you better pick T20 players here. It’s a forced mindset on Pakistan, which I absolutely like. I want the future generation to think of it as a T20 format, like England are playing,” he said.
There is a set plan for every format: Babar Azam
On the other hand, the 2017 Champions Trophy winner has disagreed with Raja’s statements. The former said that there is a set plan for every format of the game from the team.
“The door is not shut for anyone. There is a set plan for everything and we have it for every format. You can’t change things in a day or week. It takes time. For mindset to change, it takes time. Then, if we start playing defensively, journalists will ask why we don’t play aggressively and when we play aggressively, they ask why we don’t play the other way. There will always be questions, you can’t please everyone. Ultimately what matters is results. If results don’t come then questions will be raised no matter what we do,” he said.
