Pakistan Super League 2024: Pakistani star batsman Babar Azam became a subject to mockery and memes as he was heavily insulted by Pakistani fans during the ongoing Pakistan Super League 2024. The 9th edition of the popular league of Pakistan started this week and Babar Azam is plying his trade for Peshawar Zalmi as their captain, as six sides are competing for the elusive glory.
Pakistan Super League 2024: Players Receive 70% Payment, To Receive The Rest At The End Of The League
However, on Friday, February 23, during the fixture of Multan Sultans and Peshawar Zalmi at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan, Babar became a subject to mockery as Multan fans chanted ‘ZimBABAR’ again and again, which got the better off Babar Azam, as the fans successfuly managed to get under the skin of the cricketer who has been allegedly called ‘Statpadder’ for a very long time.
— Out Of Context Cricket (@GemsOfCricket) February 24, 2024
The Story Of ‘ZimBABAR’ and ‘Statpadder’
The term ‘Statpadder’, specifically in cricket refers to a player that specifically scores against weaker oppositions or against any type of opposition, where the player takes advantage of the friendly conditions and piles up impressive numbers irrespective of the result or necessity, or even the seriousness of the match.
The player racks up numbers that display his might and prowess only to those who haven’t seen the fixture live, and for this reason, a section of Pakistani fans often criticise their former captain, as he majorly falls short on the grandest stage, whenever it matters the most, and call him ZimBABAR, because the batter manages to rack up impressive numbers against the likes of Zimbabwe, Nepal, in either dead rubber matches, or bilateral series.
Babar Azam though has 3106 runs in 80 innings in Pakistan Super League, which are highly impressive, but the runs have come on the flat and highly batting-friendly conditions of Pakistan. The former Pakistan captain ended up having a horrible T20 World Cup back in 2022, because the matches happened on tougher conditions and against mighty oppositions, which indeed, exposed the flaws of the Pakistani batter, who managed merely 124 runs in 7 innings, and his solitary fifty came against New Zealand in semi-final in Sydney, a venue that interestingly, share a similar pitch conditions as that of Asian pitches.
