Babar Azam has become a subject of pure mockery by his former teammates Mohammad Amir and Ahmed Shehzad on a live television show in Pakistan, just ahead of their high-octane clash against India in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026 in Colombo on February 15.
Coming into the tournament on the back of a struggling Big Bash League stint and a single fifty against Australia, Babar managed just 15 runs against Netherlands. The former skipper redeemed himself with a 46 off 32 balls in Pakistan’s win over USA.
Yet, his former teammates aren’t sure of Babar delivering against India and placed crazy bets if the right-hander performs against Suryakumar Yadav’s men. During the TV show, Shehzad promised free foods for the crowd gathered for the show if Babar plays a match-winning innings against India.
“The crowd coordinator won’t have to get food that day. The whole team will get food,” Shehzad remarked. The show’s anchor, on behalf of Amir promised that the left-arm pacer would come out of retirement if Babar scores big with a strike rate of 160.
“If Babar, let’s say, with a strike rate of 160… Yes. Keep it like that. If he plays innings with a strike rate of 160 and helps Pakistan win, Amir will take his retirement back. If he plays big innings with a strike rate of 160, then,” the show’s anchor remarked.
The former opener, who was once compared with India’s Virat Kohli, intervened and said, “Let’s be realistic. If he plays a match-winning inning with a strike rate of 150 and scores 50 plus, then all these conditions are on.” Amir quickly agreed to Shehzad’s condition.
The twist came when former cricketer Rashid Latif jumped into the mix, stating the 32-year-old doesn’t bat that long and asked to change those bets, leaving everyone in splits. “He never bats that long anyway, so change all these bets,” said Latif.
Babar Azam’s statistics against India
Against India, Babar has played just five T20Is. He averaged 26.25 and a strike rate of 128.05 for his 105 runs against the Men in Blue. Babar’s most notable show against India came in the 2021 edition, scoring 68 en route to Pakistan’s 10-wicket win. Incidentally, it is Pakistan’s only win over India in the World Cup (ODI & T20I) history.
In the previous two T20 World Cup games against India, Babar managed a duck and 13 runs. In fact, prior to the start of the tournament, Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha remarked that no player has his spot fixed in the playing XI. Pakistan might drop Babar, if he doesn’t fit in their playing combination.
