A fierce spin attack on Friday, powered Pakistan to their first victory at home in Test cricket since their win against South Africa back in February 2021 when they thumped England by 152 runs in the second Test of the three-match series.
Ahead of the aforementioned fixture, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made four surprising changes, including dropping their star batter Babar Azam, who has not crossed the fifty-run barrier in the format since December 2022.
Consistent domestic performer Kamran Ghulam, who came in as Babar’s replacement, smashed a well-crafted century on debut, pivotal in guiding Pakistan to a formidable total in the first innings.
Ghulam’s century made things worse for Babar as social media trolls targetted the latter, claiming that the national team eventually won at home after he was dropped.
This did not sit well with experienced pacer Mohammad Amir, who despite being a a vocal critic of Babar Azam in the past, supported the star batter amid social media trolling.
“Please stop with these petty talks that Babar wasn’t in the team, that is why we won. We won because of better strategy and took advantage of playing on home ground,” wrote Amir on X, formerly Twitter.
He then went on to urge fans to discuss a player’s performance instead of getting “personal”.
“Please don’t get personal with your players. Criticize their performance, but avoid personal remarks,