Pakistan cricketer Babar Azam has responded to Tanvir Ahmed’s comments on his appointment as the captain of the national side, saying that he is a cricketer and his job is to ‘play cricket’. Ahmed had earlier said that as the new captain Azam should improve his English and his personality.
After Azam was appointed as captain of the national team by the Pakistan Cricket Board last week, Ahmed implied in a video that having good leadership skills and good form is not enough to be skipper.
“Babar Azam also needs to improve his English, which is necessary. Whenever someone becomes a captain, he has to talk during the toss and post-match presentation. Plus, he will also give interviews on various channels when he tours different countries,” Ahmed had said in the video. He added that Azam needed to “work on his personality and change his dressing sense”.
Babar responded to Ahmed’s “advice” and said that his job is to play cricket, but he is also working on his English-speaking skills.
“I’m a cricketer, my job is to play cricket. I am not a gora, who knows English completely. Yes, I am working on it, but you learn these things over a period of time, you can’t just suddenly learn it,” said Babar as quoted by PakPassion Editor Saj Sadiq.
Ahmed has played five Tests, two ODIs and a T20I for Pakistan. However, he chose to “advise” Azam on what makes a good captain and came up with the unusual list of qualities for a skipper.
The talented Azam has been one of Pakistan’s rising stars in the past few years, as he has climbed to the top of the ICC T20I Rankings, third in the ODI Rankings and fifth in the Test rankings.
After being appointed captain, Azam said he was optimistic about Pakistan’s future in limited-overs cricket.
“It is an honour for me to captain Pakistan in ODIs as well,” he said. “I take advice from Misbah bhai and senior players with regards to captaincy. It is not easy to lead Pakistan side but I will try my best to ensure the team produces good results in ODI and T20I cricket. I believe in attacking captaincy like Imran Khan,” Azam said.
He also urged people to stop comparing him with India skipper Virat Kohli. “Don’t compare me with Virat Kohli because he is a player of a different class,” he said. “I try to perform well in my own way,” Azam said.
