Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Pakistan star Babar Azam continued his poor run in the T20 World Cup, and his latest flop against England sparked a wave of memes on social media. Batting first against England at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, Babar scored 25 runs off 24 balls before getting bowled by Jamie Overton while trying to play a big shot.
His slow innings added to criticism over his form and strike rate in the tournament. And it also became the reason for using him as a meme template on social media platforms.Pakistan managed 164/9 in 20 overs, with Sahibzada Farhan top-scoring with 63. England’s bowlers, including Overton, Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson, and Adil Rashid, kept things tight and picked up key wickets.Earlier, Pakistan coach Mike Hesson had explained Babar’s role in the team, saying he was brought back to provide stability in the middle order rather than fast scoring in the powerplay.“I think he’s well aware that his strike rate in the powerplay in (T20) World Cups is less than 100. So clearly, that’s not a role that we think we need here. We think he’s a fine player through the middle, if required, particularly if we’re in a little bit of trouble. Or, as we saw against the USA, once he gets himself set, he can increase his strike rate at that point. So, we brought Babar back in for a specific role post the Asia Cup. We wanted some batsmanship through the middle, and he certainly brings that for us,” he said ahead of Pakistan’s opening Super 8 match against New Zealand. Despite this, fans mocked Babar’s struggles online, turning his latest dismissal into a meme trend as his nightmarish World Cup campaign continued.
