'Tired decision' - Sherfane Rutherford 'shocked' after ICC does not name Babar Azam as T20 WC Player of the Tournament

The West Indian all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford has opined that he was shocked to see that Pakistan captain Babar Azam was not chosen as the the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup 2021. Despite crashing out in the semi-finals, Pakistan had shown some spirited fight till the moment they were knocked out. 

At the helm of most of the things was Babar. Opening the innings for Pakistan, he scored 303 runs at an average of 60.60 with four fifties. His form was sublime during the tournament, but three of his four fifties came against Afghanistan, Scotland, and Namibia. His strike rate was 126.25, 20 points lesser than that of David Warner. 

Speaking of David Warner, the Aussie southpaw scored 289 runs at an average of 48.17 and a strike rate of 146.70. He scored three fifties, among which were knocks against Sri Lanka, West Indies, and New Zealand, in the final. He also scored 49 runs in the semi-final against Pakistan in a run chase. 

Coming back to the argument that Babar should have been given the player of the tournament, it was speculated that the Pakistan skipper would be one of the frontrunners for the prize. Had Warner missed out on scoring runs in the final, Babar could’ve been a contender, but once the Aussie opener got close to him in runs tally, there were too many things that suggested that he was a better pick. 

Rutherford’s tweet came in before a tweet was dropped by Shoaib Akhtar. Rutherford wrote, “i am shocked Babar Azam is not Player of the tournament, tired decision.” The Pakistani fans too felt that it was an unfair decision, but it is not too difficult to understand the decision once you break down their numbers. 

Akhtar too claimed that the decision was unfair. However, it can be said that the fact that the tournament was won by Australia could have also played a part in taking the decision. In the 2016 edition, Virat Kohli was given the Player of the Tournament for his stand-out batting performances against Pakistan, Australia, and West Indies in the semi-final. However, India didn’t win the tournament.