Inzamam ul Haq slams ex-teammate Waqar Younis for Babar Azam injury comments: WATCH

With their quarantine debacle sorted out, the Pakistan men's cricket team will take on hosts, New Zealand, in a three-match T20I series starting on December 18. The New Zealand vs Pakistan 2020 series will come hot on the heels of the Kiwis' thumping Test and T20I victories over West Indies and Pakistan's victories over Zimbabwe at home as well. Already missing their star batsman, Fakhar Zaman, the Men in Green have been dealt a bad blow now with the loss of skipper Babar Azam from the series. 

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Inzamam ul Haq slams team's management of Babar Azam injury

Pakistan's problems in New Zealand seem unending, as the team has now lost the services of their captain Babar Azam for almost the entirety of the series. The skipper sustained an injury to his right thumb during a practice session in Queenstown on Sunday which was revealed to be a fracture. This puts the captain out of contention for at least 12 weeks - the entire T20I series. As the No.2 ranked T20I batsman in the world, Azam has been the rock of the team and the management did not mince words when talking about how much his injury would impact them.

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Talking to the press on Sunday, bowling coach Waqar Younis, said that Babar’s injury is a "major setback" to the team. “Other teams are scared of Babar Azam and there is no doubt that he is one of the best players in the world. It is unfortunate that it [injury] happened at the wrong time, just at the stroke of the series starting,” said Younis. This heavy-handed statement has come under fire from former Pakistani skipper Inzamam ul Haq. 

Ul Haq has criticised his former teammate in a video streamed live on his YouTube channel on December 14. “I was surprised to see the team management openly saying that Babar’s injury happened at the wrong time. Everyone knows that Babar is our main player, but I don’t think the management should say that we are concerned, as it sends out a message to the opposition that our morale is down. When you admit something like this, it gives an edge to the opposition. I didn’t like this statement,” Inzamam said on his YouTube channel.

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Pakistan T20 squad for New Zealand 2020

In Azam's absence, former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed has been recalled to the side though it is unsure whether he will be leading the side or not. The management has also dropped senior players, Mohammad Amir and Shoiab Malik, preferring to invest in the "youth" over veterans now. Here is what the Pakistan T20 squad for the New Zealand tour looks like:

Shadab Khan (captain), Abdullah Shafique, Faheem Ashraf, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hussain Talat, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan, Musa Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir and Wahab Riaz

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Image Credits: AP

Video Credits: Inzamam-ul-Haq/YouTube