Friendship with Babar Azam has caused me more harm than benefit, it adds extra pressure on both of us: Usman Qadir

Legendary leg-spinner Abdul Qadir's son, Usman Qadir, was touted to be a superstar for Pakistan. He made his international debut in a T20I against Zimbabwe in November 2020. The leg-spinner has played in 23 T20Is and a solitary ODI. Usman has picked 29 wickets at an average of 19.07 and an economy rate of 8.13 in the shortest format of the game, while in his only ODI appearance, which came against South Africa, the Lahore-born spinner finished with figures of 1/48 in nine overs.

Usman's last international appearance came in September 2022 in a T20I against England. Since then, he has fallen out of favour. The 30-year-old recently said that his friendship with Pakistan captain Babar Azam dates back to their under-15 days but it was not Babar who brought him into the senior team. Instead, Usman credited Misbah-ul-Haq for giving him a chance to play for the country.

"My relation with Babar is not from today - it's been since when we both gave trials for under-15. I only came into the team when Babar became the captain; however, that doesn't mean he took me into the team. The person who brought me into the team was Misbah-ul-Haq. I mentioned earlier, too, that Babar didn't get me into the team, and why would he? This isn't his team - it's Pakistan's team. Even Babar has acknowledged this himself," Usman told Cricket Pakistan.

Babar's friendship has caused me more harm than benefit: Usman Qadir

Usman quashed assumptions regarding Babar favouring him in the Pakistan team over others due to their friendship. According to the spinner, his friendship with Babar does the duo more harm than benefit as it puts added pressure on them.

"If the critique is around Babar's and my friendship, then I should never have been out of the team in the first place. In fact, Babar's friendship has caused me more harm than benefit because that has always added extra pressure on both of us equally," he further added.