Social media can be unforgiving, where you can be celebrated as a hero one moment and quickly dragged down the next. This harsh reality is currently hitting Pakistan cricket star Babar Azam hard.
Once the poster boy of the nation’s cricket team, Babar is now facing relentless criticism due to his prolonged slump in form across all formats over the past year. The barrage of trolls, derogatory memes, and uncomfortable nicknames has escalated to the point where fake retirement posts about him are circulating online.
Following another disappointing performance against Bangladesh, where he scored just 31 and 11 in the second Test in Rawalpindi, fake retirement announcements for Babar went viral on the social media platform X.
The first fake post appeared on Monday afternoon, cleverly mimicking the language of a real retirement announcement, potentially misleading even the most dedicated fans.
— Babar Azam 🧢 (@babaarazam258) September 2, 2024
As this post gained traction, another appeared two hours later, this time from an account with a larger following and an X premium subscription, giving it even greater reach. The post from the 'Babar Azam - Parody' account mocked the Pakistan white-ball captain for allegedly preparing batting-friendly pitches during his tenure as Test captain to inflate his run tally.
Bye bye test cricket👋 pic.twitter.com/5v5kDKgqs6
— Babar Azam - Parody (@babarazam228) September 2, 2024
Babar’s struggle with form has been stark over the past 12 months, marking the lowest point in his international career. After Pakistan's disappointing performance in the ODI World Cup in India last year, Babar lost his ODI captaincy.
His batting performance in both ODIs and Tests has hit unprecedented lows, scoring just 190 runs in 10 Test innings at an average of 19, and his ODI average has plummeted to 34. While his T20I average during this period was 38, it wasn't enough to deliver good results for Pakistan, who were knocked out of the T20 World Cup in the group stages after a shock loss to the USA.
During Pakistan's tour of Australia last year, Babar managed only 126 runs at an average of 21. Before the T20 World Cup, Pakistan played four T20Is in England, where Babar scored 68 runs across two matches, averaging 34.00. In the T20 World Cup, his struggles continued, scoring 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66, but his low strike rate of 101.66 drew heavy criticism.
In the ongoing series against Bangladesh, Babar's poor run persists, with just 64 runs across four innings. Despite these challenges, Babar is determined to rediscover his form in Pakistan's upcoming series against England.
Despite the tough times, Babar has received support from former Australian fast bowler and current Pakistan Test head coach, Jason Gillespie. "Babar is a quality player, a world-class talent. He's very close to getting back to his best. I feel confident that we'll see Babar scoring big runs soon. He just hasn't been able to convert his starts," Gillespie said.
