"The world has made him a King" - Imam-ul-Haq hits back at Ahmed Shehzad for criticizing Babar Azam during T20 World Cup 2024

Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq has come out supporting Babar Azam amidst all the allegations made by former cricketer Ahmed Shehzad on a Pakistan TV show. Shehzad had claimed that Babar didn't select players in his team on merit and gave his friendships more importance.

Imam agreed that the Pakistan captain was answerable for the lack of silverware he delivered. However, he felt that Babar also deserved a lot more respect than he had been getting.

Imam-ul-Haq defended Babar Azam on a show in response to Ahmed Shehzad's criticism, saying:

"Everyone has the right to criticize the Pakistan team. But the respect element should never go away. He is your captain. The world has made him a King so it doesn't make a difference if you consider him that or not. If you want to remove him as a captain then do it, but the respect element should never go away."

On the show, Shehzad had been vocal about the body shaming done towards wicketkeeper Azam Khan.

To this, Imam said that just like Azam, even skipper Babar deserved respect. Shehzad had also called Babar a 'fake King'.

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Imam-ul-Haq on Babar Azam's statistics

In one of the previous shows on the Pakistani channel, Ahmed Shehzad compared his numbers in T20 tournaments for Pakistan with Babar Azam's, claiming that the Pakistan skipper had a worse showing.

Imam-ul-Haq reminded everyone that Babar had been the No.1 ranked batter not long ago and had an average of more than 50 across formats.

"He (Babar) has played 250 international games for Pakistan. You are showing stats of 20 games, but who will give a response to his average of fifty across formats? If anyone else has it then show it here. Is there anyone else from Pakistan who has been No.1 batter in the rankings? He is playing a World Cup. He doesn't have time to come here and show the trends and stats," the southpaw said on the same show.

Babar Azam and company will now face Ireland in their final Group A game of the T20 World Cup and will need to win it and hope that USA lose to the same opposition to qualify for the Super 8 phase.