'When Virat Kohli scored 100 India forgot their Asia Cup, if Babar scores we..': Ramiz Raja on Pakistan team’s criticism

Despite reaching the Asia Cup 2022 finals and giving England a good fight in the last T20I series at home, which they lost 3-4, the Pakistani team has received harsh criticism from analysts and fans alike.

Despite the fact that their main batters, captain Babar Azam and keeper Mohammad Rizwan, have had a frequent presence in the top positions in the ICC T20I rankings, both have been criticised for their batting strike rates and have been constantly blamed for the Pakistan team's failures.

However, PCB President Ramiz Raja supported his captain and keeper-batter, even using the Indian squad and Virat Kohli as examples to defend and support Rizwan and Babar and the Pakistani team.

During an interview with Samaa TV, Ramiz confessed that the Pakistan team did not perform well in the Asia Cup final, but claimed the team had been unjustly chastised.

Ramiz defended the Indian team's performance in the Asia Cup and Virat Kohli, claiming that once Virat Kohli scored his maiden T20I century against Afghanistan, Indian fans and media forgot about the entire Asia Cup campaign, in which they failed to reach the final despite being overwhelming favorites.

He said that Pakistan fans wouldn’t have done the same if Babar scored a century and would’ve criticized him for his slow strike rate.

“Previously we used to falter at the very first hurdle. Yes, we reached the final and yes we did not play well. But it's okay to have a bad day. But there were others teams as well in the Asia Cup. I mean then India should then have been severely criticized for not reaching the final. But that is not what their fans and media do. I'll tell you...when Virat Kohli scored a century against Afghanistan, they forgot their entire Asia Cup. Will we ever do that? What we say is that Babar Azam scored a ton, but his strike rate was 135 while David Warner's was 147.3. So this is useless,” he said.

Pakistan lost the 7-match T20I series to England although leading the series 3-2 at one stage.

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