During the Bangladesh Premier League match between Rangpur Riders and Durdanto Dhaka, Riders batsman and former Pakistan captain Babar Azam lost his cool on the ground. Babar got into a heated argument with Dhaka wicket-keeper Irfan Sukkur, who was trying to sledge him on the ground. The incident took place during the 13th over of the first innings.
Durdanto Dhaka bowler Arafat Sunny dismissed Rangpur Riders batsman Nurul Hasan on the 3rd ball of the 13th over for 26 runs from 24 balls. During the break, Babar Azam was sledged by Dhaka wicket-keeper Irfan Sukkur, Babar got furious at him and engaged in a heated word exchange with the opposition fielder. Babar is always known for his cool and calm nature, wherein he has never fought on the field in international cricket, however, Babar was not able to keep himself calm and got involved in a verbal fight.
Watch: Babar Azam engages in a verbal fight during BPL
WTF 👀???
So,now they want a fight with him ?
Furious Babar 🥵 #BabarAzam𓃵 pic.twitter.com/HKjZeXPIW1
— Sami Nadeem (@Sami_ullah_1234) January 27, 2024
What happened to Babar Azam there? 🤯🤯🤯 #BPL2024 pic.twitter.com/gSKPqCQr9Y
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) January 27, 2024
The umpires tried to calm down Babar Azam, whereas an opposition fielder also came and had a chat with Babar. However, this didn’t have any effect on Babar’s performance as he played an innings of 62 runs from 46 balls, which included five fours and one six.
The Rangpur Riders were able to put up a first-innings score of 183/8 and have given a tough target to the Durdanto Dhaka. Riders lost their opening wicket in the form of Brandon King for 20 runs as he was dismissed by Dhaka bowler Taskin Ahmed. Rony Talukdar also wasn’t able to do much and had to walk back to the dressing room for 11 runs from 7 balls.
Captain Nurul Hasan first added 50 runs for the 3rd wicket with Babar Azam and after his departure, Babar put up stands of 39 off 21 balls with Azmatullah Omarzai for the 5th wicket. After the dismissal of Babar, Omarzai added 35 runs from 14 balls with Shamin Hossain and played a cameo innings of 32 runs from 15 balls.
The Rangpur Riders will be willing to win the match and earn their second win of the tournament. Riders are placed in the 5th position with 1 win from 2 games, whereas Durdanto Dhaka are in the fourth spot.
The year 2023 was not great for Babar Azam both as a batsman and as a captain. Babar failed to score runs in international cricket for Pakistan and also didn’t play as per his potential. Babar struggled to score runs against quality teams such as India, Australia, and England whereas, he used to score centuries against low-ranked teams such as Nepal.
Babar Azam’s lack of performance with the bat also resulted in a huge concern for Pakistan in international cricket. Pakistan were poor in the Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup wherein they lost against low-ranked teams. Also, Babar stepped down from the captaincy in all three formats after the debacle in the CWC 2023.
However, there was much improvement in Babar Azam’s performance as he was not able to convert his starts into hundreds.