Former New Zealand fast bowler and cricket analyst Simon Doull is currently in the headlines for his thoughts on Babar Azam’s selfish batting display during a PSL match between Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators.
One of the best cricket commentators in the world said that while Babar Azam’s statistics are quite impressive and he is one of the best Pakistani batters, his strategy of playing slowly to reach his century in this game is disappointing, particularly given that the Zalmi has big hitters in the dugout.
“It seems Babar Azam is playing for his first century rather than playing for the team,” the former Kiwi star opined.
It’s worth mentioning that Babar was on 80 off 44 balls and he ended up scoring 100 off 60 balls. It goes without saying that in depth overs batters try to up the tempo to get as many runs as possible for their teams.
Simon Doull was of the opinion that Babar’s somewhat self-centered inning didn’t benefit the team because Zalmi had quite a few big hitters waiting to get in. Simon Doull asserts that scoring a century is pointless if the team ends up losing the match. It should be noted that Peshawar Zalmi lost the very game to Quetta Gladiators despite scoring 240 with Babar getting 115 off 65 balls. Jason Roy scored a stunning knock of 145 off just 63 balls for the Gladiators.
A few Pakistani fans especially Babar Azam’s lovers went ballistic on social media following Simon Doull’s remarks and attacked the Kiwi pundit who isn’t just one of the most eminent cricketing experts around but a guest in our country.
The disgusting behavior from aforementioned fans was such that Mr Doull had to share one of the abusive comments from his Instagram page, where one moron by the name of Feroz Khan was insulting the mother of the Kiwi pundit.
As much as I’m ashamed of how some Pakistanis treated Mr. Doull, I’ll always remember his gracious response, in which he stated, “I’m sorry that my opinion disturbed you, but it was only an opinion for which I’m being paid by the PCB.”
The former Kiwi pacer informed the social media trolls that his mother had passed away, making this experience even more saddening, and advised his abusers that while one has the right to disagree with any opinion, one should always keep the discourse civilized.
The question is whether a commentator has the right to express an opinion or if his job is to provide ball-to-ball commentary. In international matches, it has generally been observed that the commentators—most of whom are former cricket stars—tend to express their opinions on what the team should do in certain circumstances. These commentators while describing the game simultaneously educate the viewers about it.
Have individuals -who were insulting Mr Doull- paused for a bit and wondered how on earth they were doing Pakistan any favors by abusing a guest who had traveled thousands of miles to your country and was a huge fan of Pakistani cricket?
Society as a whole has to address this issue and call out these trolls to send out a message that we are a civilized nation and these rotten few don’t represent us.
