Babar still does not know how to do captaincy: Kamran Akmal

Pakistan endured a poor outing in their fifth and final match of the T20I series against New Zealand earlier this week, conceding a six-wicket defeat in Rawalpindi. The Kiwis – without some of their star players including Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, and Glenn Phillips among others – drew the five-game series 2-2, with one being washed away. 

Babar Azam and co. are enduring criticism from all corners, particularly for their defeat in the final T20I; New Zealand were reeling at 26/3, and then 76/4 during the 10th over before making a stellar comeback to register a win with four balls to spare.

Following the defeat, former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal launched a brutal attack on Babar Azam, stating that the star batter doesn't know "how to captain" the side.

"Speaking of their mistakes, they deflect and accuse us of criticism. But our focus is on their captaincy, not their performance. We're not blind to their abilities," said Kamran [as quoted by Cricket Pakistan].

"He (Babar Azam) still doesn't know how to do captaincy after four years - he doesn't even know which bowler to give to ball to at what time. It's no surprise that they lost when they continued to make the same mistakes. We didn't control our errors, and that's why they emerged victorious," the former keeper further said.

Speaking further on the captaincy decisions, Kamran criticised the choice of bowlers during the closing overs of the Kiwi run-chase in the fifth T20I.

"If both the left-handed batsmen were on the crease, the logical choice would have been to give the ball to Iftikhar Ahmed.

"But instead, we saw the leg-spinner Shadab Khan being given the over and was being continuously smashed by the New Zealand batters. It would have been wise to rest him and bring in another all-rounder to give the team a chance to regain their footing," said Kamran further.