The Babar Azam clip has caused a furore on social media, with a section of the crowd questioning whether the video is at all real.
A shocking video of former Pakistan captain Babar Azam fuming at spectators during a Pakistan Super League game has gone viral on social media. According to the video, the incumbent skipper of the Peshawar Zalmi franchise looked riled up at fans teasing him with ‘ZimBabar’ chants. However, the clip has caused a furore on social media, with a section of the crowd questioning whether the video is at all real.
On Saturday, a video of Babar made rounds on every social media platform where the star Pakistan batter was sitting on the sidelines with the technical staff of Peshawar Zalmi when a section of the spectators behind him began chanting ‘ZimBabar’. Babar was left visibly agitated at the reaction of the fans, he was seen mouthing a few words angrily before threatening to throw the water bottle at them. The 29-year-old, however, stopped himself and sat on his chair to focus back on the match.
While most were left shocked at Babar’s reaction in the video, many on social media claimed that the video was fake, saying that the ‘ZimBabar’ chants were taken from a separate clip and edited into the new video in a bid to garner attention.
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Here are some of the posts…
What does ‘ZimBabar’ mean?
Babar has already made a name for himself as being one of Pakistan’s most prolific run-scorer across formats, with most even comparing the former captain to India great Virat Kohli. However, over the last couple of years, Babar has failed to live up to the expectations as a batter, choking in key matches against stronger opponents while notching up big scores against weaker teams, which includes Zimbabwe, against whom he averages 57.75 across all international formats. The ‘ZimBabar’ word hence went viral on social media with fans believing that the right-handed batter can only score against Zimbabwe or needs a series against the particular opposition to end his poor run of form.
More recently, Babar also lost his captaincy in all formats after Pakistan failed to make the semifinals of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, where they performed poorly. Pakistan named Shan Masood as the new Test captain, while Shaheen Afridi was handed the white-ball duties.