Pakistani fans unhappy after Babar Azam dons Somerset jersey endorsing alcohol brand

Babar Azam has been the centrepiece of Pakistan’s batting order in the recent years. The success that the right-hander has accomplished in this short span has made everyone compare him with the batting giants of the current era. The 25-year-old has been in great touch in the recent past, though he was not able to cross the three-figure mark on England tour, his performance and grittiness were highly appreciated.

Right after the T20I series against the Brits, Azam has joined the Somerset side in the T20 Blast. Like every time, the Pakistani batsman found the limelight again, this time for unwanted reasons. The Somerset team has an alcohol brand as one of the sponsors and Babar Azam donned the jersey which has the brand name mentioned on it.

Babar’s fans in Pakistan were left extremely unhappy with the fact that the name of an alcoholic brand was mentioned in Babar’s jersey. This led to an outrage among his fans as they slammed him on Twitter. Notably, alcohol is taboo in Islam and almost all Pakistan and Muslim players from other countries refuse to endorse alcohol brands on jerseys.

However, later it was ascertained that it was an error that will be rectified in the coming match. Somerset will get that brand logo removed from his jersey. “The sponsor’s logo for a brand of alcohol on Babar Azam’s Somerset shirt was left on in error. Somerset will be removing the logo before their next match in the T20 Blast,” confirmed Pakistani journalist Saj Sadiq in his tweet.

The phenomenal form continues

Babar Azam is at the top of the chart on the ICC’s batting rankings in the shortest format. He is known as one of the most technically sound players and his performance speaks big words. The right-hander is the only player in the world who is amongst the Top 5 batting rankings of all three formats.

Now, in the T20 Blast, Azam started his season with the perfect performance. Batting first, his team put a total of 230 against the Worcestershire. Pakistan’s prodigal son played an outstanding knock of 42 runs off 35 deliveries which came out handy in their match-winning effort. However, off the field, the batsman was criticised by his fans for endorsing an alcohol brand.

Here are some of the tweets: