Babar Azam plays for himself; Pakistan not ready to face India: Danish Kaneria

New Delhi: Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has slammed Babar Azam for prioritising personal milestones over team success and expressed concerns about Pakistan’s preparations ahead of their marquee Champions Trophy clash against India in Dubai on Sunday.

The former Pakistan captain, who recently lost his ODI No. 1 ranking to Shubman Gill, was blamed for his slow knock of 64 off 90 balls in the Champions Trophy opener against New Zealand.

His inability to accelerate the run rate and dismissal in the crucial 34th over contributed to Pakistan’s 60-run defeat, putting their title defence in jeopardy.

Kaneria pointed out Pakistan’s struggling batting lineup, accusing Azam of focusing more on his individual performance than the team’s success.

"If we talk about Babar Azam, he is playing for himself. When he is under pressure, he focuses on keeping his stats and ICC ranking intact," Kaneria told PTI Video.

"I have scored a fifty, I have done it. But where is the intent of winning the match for your side?", Kaneria questioned.

He credited Salman Agha (42 off 28 balls) and Khushdil Shah (69; 49b) for their impactful knocks, which helped Pakistan avoid an even bigger defeat.

"Salman Ali Agha and Khushdil Shah played great knocks, if those two boys hadn't scored quickly, then Pakistan would have lost by 100 runs, instead of losing by 60 runs.

"If you play, play for the country, the country comes first. Show a little intent...But unfortunately, Babar couldn't do that", he said.

The 44-year-old further expressed concerns about Pakistan’s readiness for the crucial clash against India.

"The scenario is crystal clear. I don't think there is much hype this time because Pakistan is not playing good cricket. India are playing excellent cricket," Kaneria said.

He pointed to Pakistan’s recent struggles, including a disappointing Tri-Nation Series campaign and a 1-1 draw against the West Indies in a home Test series.

In contrast, he hailed India’s strong resurgence following their Border-Gavaskar Trophy defeat in Australia, highlighting their dominant white-ball series win over England.

"They had a debacle in Australia, many players were questioned. But the way they have started the year 2025, defeating England in at home.

"You can see the form of Rohit (Sharma), (Virat) Kohli... Gill is in the form of his life, such a delightful player to watch... (Mohammed) Shami came back from injury and got a fifer against Bangladesh," he said.

"On the other hand, if we talk about Pakistan, they're not able to win a series at home. Shaheen (Shah Afridi) who used to bowl at 150kph is not doing that now. We drew a series with West Indies. There is no strategy or plan," he added.

Kaneria also questioned the selection of Abrar Ahmed as Pakistan’s lone specialist spinner, doubting his ability to trouble Indian batters.

"Abrar doesn't have the quality to trouble India's batsmen. He uses his fingers to give the ball a tweak, he is not a leg-spinner, doesn't get the ball to turn, gets hit for plenty. Nowhere close to the quality of a Sunil Narine or Ajantha Mendis. He can't turn the game around." "Salman Ali Agha will play the role of an off-spinner, Khushdil Shah can also chip in with his left arm orthodox if needed," said the former leg-spinner.

Kaneria also warned the Pakistan batters of the spin threat possessed by the India's trio of Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.

"The Pakistan team says that they play spin well, but Babar Azam, who is said to be one of the best players, no doubt he is, gets stuck on left-arm spinners.

"Jadeja and Axar are two proven world-class spinners. We have seen that even in the T20 World Cup, during the Pakistan-India game, Axar was the one who didn't leak a lot of runs," he said.

"This indeed will be a big task for the Pakistani batters. There are a lot of left-handers in the middle-order of Pakistan's batting lineup like Saud Shakeel, Khushdil Shah.

"But I have been seeing that the Indian spinners have been bowling left-handed batsmen pretty well. And it won't be easy for Pakistan's batting to play these three spinners.

"Especially Kuldeep because he is a chinaman bowler. It will be a tough time for Pakistan to survive the middle overs against the quality spin bowling of India", he exclaimed.

Kaneria acknowledged the pressure on the Pakistan team, particularly after losing the first match in front of their home crowd.

"There is pressure, this is a match against India, there is pressure. We have promised so many people that we will do this, we will do that. But we didn't focus on cricket, we didn't focus on the players, we didn't focus on the player's combination," he rued.

"Pakistan are unpredictable. They play well under pressure. You never know what will happen on the given day," Kaneria concluded. PTI HN TAP