Islamabad
\nPakistan\u2019s star trio of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi made forgettable Big Bash League (BBL) debuts, drawing mixed reactions from cricket fans on Monday.
\nBabar, who was directly signed by the Sydney Sixers ahead of the players\u2019 auction, failed to live up to the hype created by the franchise as the star batter scored a scratchy two off five deliveries in the curtain raiser against Perth Scorchers on Sunday at the Optus Stadium.
\nThe right-handed batter survived a scare on the third delivery he faced as he lobbed a hard-length delivery, bowled by Joel Paris, briefly into the air, but it fell between the two fielders stationed at mid-wicket and mid-on.
\nThe 31-year-old, however, attempted a similar shot on the fifth delivery he faced and was eventually caught at mid-on, walking out after scoring two off five deliveries.
\nFormer Pakistan white-ball captain Rizwan, representing Melbourne Renegades in the BBL 15, had an equally underwhelming outing with the bat as he fell for a 10-ball four in the ongoing fixture against Brisbane Heat.
\nThe innings also saw Pakistan\u2019s ace pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi being taken away from the attack after bowling two over-the-waist-height no-balls in the same over.
\nShaheen, who conceded nine and 19 in his first two overs, respectively, had an abrupt ending to his third, and thus finished with dismal bowling figures of 0\/43 in 2.4 overs.
\nThe star trio\u2019s unwanted start to their respective BBL careers drew widespread criticism from cricket fans, who flocked to social media to express their frustration.
\nA cricket fan, bearing the username Shoaib Niazi, on X termed their struggles as a \u201chorrible\u201d start for Pakistan cricketers in general.
\n\u201cHorrible start for Pakistani players in BBL .. first Babar and now Rizwan and Shaheen,\u201d he wrote on the microblogging website.
\nAnother cricket fan, bearing the username Maaz, claimed that the trio was \u201cexposed\u201d after being overhyped by their respective BBL franchise, while also holding them responsible for the Pakistan cricket team\u2019s downfall.
\n\u201cBBL were hyping Babar, Shaheen , Rizwan non stop. All 3 of the overhyped stars got exposed in their first match. They need to do massive self reflection where [their] game is at currently and put their ego aside. PCT downfall started in last 2 years [because] of their under performance.\u201d
\nFor the unversed, a total of seven Pakistan cricketers are representing different franchises in the ongoing 15th edition of the BBL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad Pakistan\u2019s star trio of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi made forgettable Big Bash League (BBL) debuts, drawing mixed reactions from cricket fans on Monday. Babar, who was directly signed by the Sydney Sixers ahead of the players\u2019 auction, failed to live up to the hype created by the franchise as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-520287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n