{"id":701787,"date":"2026-01-17T09:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/701787\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T09:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:11:11","slug":"learn-from-harleen-deol-trapped-in-his-own-world-babar-azam-puts-self-before-team-ignores-crickets-ultimate-credo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/701787\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn from Harleen Deol: Trapped in his own world, Babar Azam puts self before team, ignores cricket\u2019s ultimate credo"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday night at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, in front of empty stands but in full public view of thousands watching on television, UP Warriorz decided to retire Harleen Deol out<\/a> from their WPL match against Delhi Capitals. On the face of it, there was no pressing need to do so; Harleen<\/a> was 47 off 36, though she had made only 19 off her last 18 deliveries. With the end-overs looming, coach Abhishek Nayar<\/a> chose to withdraw her and infuse greater firepower, a move that backfired spectacularly.<\/p>\n

\"BabarBabar Azam was left infuriated after Steve Smith denied him a single (AFP)<\/p>\n

Harleen took the perceived \u2018slight\u2019 on the chin. Twenty-four hours later, she responded in splendid style, with a statement knock full of class and elegance. She made a sparkling unbeaten 64 off 39 deliveries, an essay of true brilliance where she sent the ball scurrying to the fence 12 times to lead her side to their first victory of the season against defending champions Mumbai Indians. Harleen didn\u2019t snarl and growl and go over the top, just as she hadn\u2019t moped and moaned and groaned the previous night.<\/p>\n

Also Read: <\/strong>\u2018Not sure if Babar Azam was happy with me\u2019 \u2013 Steve Smith on hitting 4 sixes in a row after turning down single<\/a><\/p>\n

Compare Harleen\u2019s controlled aggression to Babar Azam<\/a>\u2019s petulance in Friday\u2019s BBL encounter at the SCG. Playing for the Sixers in the Sydney Derby against the Thunder, the former Pakistan captain was 47 off 37 deliveries when, off the last delivery of the 11th over, Steve Smith turned down the single that would have put Babar on strike at the start of the next over.<\/p>\n

Unlike all other 20-over matches with a six-over Power Play chunk at the start of the innings, the BBL\u2019s Power Play lasts four overs; the two remaining overs can be taken in a single block at any time from the start of the 11th over and has been creatively labelled \u2018Power Surge\u2019. At the drinks break after 10 overs, the Sixers had agreed internally to use overs 12 and 13 for the Power Surge. Babar had just played three dot balls to Chris Green in the 11th, prompting Smith to turn down the last-ball single when the Pakistani drove the ball to long-on. Smith wanted the strike, he didn\u2019t want his partner wasting precious deliveries in the Surge. Logical, right?<\/p>\n

Also Read: <\/strong>\u2018Get out of the way\u2019 \u2013 Steve Smith can\u2019t believe Babar Azam\u2019s fielding; Mark Waugh bursts into laughter<\/a><\/p>\n

Except that Babar didn\u2019t seem to think so. He was visibly incensed at the non-striker turning his back on the run<\/a>. When the two batters met mid-pitch between overs, Smith made to punch gloves before realising that Babar was in no mood to reciprocate. The tension was palpable as the two retreated to their respective creases. Babar\u2019s mood should have been lifted by Smith smashing 32 \u2013 the highest ever in a single over in the history of the league \u2013 off the first over of the Surge from Ryan Hadley. It wasn\u2019t; Babar was still smarting at the \u2018insult\u2019, so caught up in his own world of righteous indignation that he forgot that the match wasn\u2019t about Babar Azam, it was about Sydney Sixers.<\/p>\n

The red mist manifested itself in an ugly hoick and an inside-edge onto his stumps the next time Babar came on strike, to the first ball of the 13th over. He stormed off angrily and whacked the boundary cushion with his bat as he scurried to the dressing-room. He didn\u2019t immediately come out to mingle with teammates and opponents alike after his side completed a comprehensive five\u2013wicket win with 16 deliveries to spare, thanks to Smith\u2019s 42-ball 100. Naughty, naughty.<\/p>\n

Also Read: <\/strong>BBL bowler rubs salt on Babar Azam\u2019s wounds after Smith indicates ‘you can’t hit a six’<\/a><\/p>\n

Pakistan has greeted the development with outrage, their mood not helped by the fact that earlier in the week, Mohammad Rizwan<\/a>, another former skipper and Babar\u2019s former opening partner before both were sacked from the T20 team, was retired out<\/a> by Melbourne Renegades after limping to 26 off 23.<\/p>\n

Babar’s fall<\/p>\n

Babar has enjoyed a love-hate relationship with connoisseurs and laymen alike in his country. At one time, he was hailed as Virat Kohli<\/a>\u2019s equal, but once he failed to fire the imagination in 20-over cricket, the tide turned emphatically. He was held responsible for his team\u2019s continued travails in the shortest format, the criticism not without justification. In 129 T02I innings, he has a strike-rate of only 128.45 which not even an average of 39.54 can justify. Considering he has mainly opened the batting, Babar hasn\u2019t made the most of the Power Play, which has transferred immense run-rate pressure on the middle order. The only surprise when he was axed from the T20 setup in December 2024 was how long it was in coming, though in typical Pakistan fashion, he was recalled last October after stringent criticism of the Salman Agha-led side in the Asia Cup in the Emirates in September.<\/p>\n

His comeback, spanning eight innings, has been marked by two half-centuries where he has struck at more than 142 each, but also three ducks, so the jury is out on whether it has been a successful one or not. What leaves no room for confusion is that his BBL debut season has been anything but bountiful \u2013 201 runs at an average of 28.71 and a pedestrian strike-rate of 107.48. If the Sixers\u2019 fans outrage over these numbers, who can really blame them?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday night at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, in front of empty stands but in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4101],"tags":[5911,211085,202437,1406,88431,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-701787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-babar-azam","tag-babar-azam-retired-out","tag-bbl","tag-cricket","tag-harleen-deol","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115909668841511921","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}