As Pakistan faces potential elimination from the 2024 T20 World Cup group stage, following losses to India and hosts USA, former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt has launched a scathing critique of the current team. Butt's comments, particularly aimed at captain Babar Azam and bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, have sparked significant attention.
In a video that has gone viral on social media platform X, Butt ridicules the 'King' title often attributed to Babar Azam. He challenges the merit of these titles and comparisons with Indian cricket legends.
"The self-proclamation that one man (Babar Azam) is the 'King', the other (Shaheen Afridi) is the best bowler in the world; one is compared to Virat Kohli, the other is compared to Jasprit Bumrah, but can they win matches on their own?" Butt questioned.
Butt's criticism stems from Pakistan's recent performance, particularly their collapse while chasing a run-a-ball 120 against India on a tricky New York pitch, resulting in a six-run loss. He expressed frustration over Pakistan's inability to close out matches despite the high individual rankings of their players.
"Yes, they've touched the top of the ICC rankings at one point, but it's time to touch reality now," Butt stated.
Further, Butt accused the Pakistan players of running public relations campaigns on social media to enhance their image, calling such actions misleading and counterproductive.
"The worst thing about social media nowadays is that you can run anything with a paid campaign," said Butt. "The intelligent and important people in Pakistan cricket must stay away from such activities," he added.
Butt emphasised the importance of performance over social media narratives, urging players to achieve significant victories before claiming such titles.
"First win a match, a big tournament, fight it out to win against a big team, finish a match single-handedly, then think what you want to proclaim," Butt asserted.
Pakistan's World Cup hopes to hang by a thread after their surprising losses to the USA and India, despite a victory over Canada. The team's fate in the tournament now depends on other results, drawing widespread criticism from former players including Butt and Wasim Akram.
The controversy surrounding these comments highlights the intense scrutiny and high expectations faced by the Pakistan cricket team, particularly in major tournaments like the T20 World Cup.