'Rankings don't matter on the pitch' - Gloucestershire troll Babar Azam after David Payne ties him up

On September 13 (Sunday), the table toppers in the central group, Gloucestershire locked horns with Somerset in a match of the ongoing T20 Blast at The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton. Somerset had lost two back to back matches and had to win this game to stay alive in the tournament. Gloucestershire, on the other hand, had won four out of six matches and were keen on strengthening their top spot in the points table.

The match commenced with Somerset captain Lewis Gregory winning the toss and electing to field first. Batting first, Gloucestershire lost their opening batsman Chris Dent early as he went back to the pavilion after scoring a mere 16 runs. However, the visitors managed to rack up a score of 205 at the loss of 6 wickets owing to the quickfire half-century by Ian Cockbain and blistering knock of 49 off 18 balls by the all-rounder Benny Howell.

Chasing a target of 206 in the 20-over match, Somerset got off to a poor start as they lost their both opening batsmen Steven Davies and Babar Azam within 5 overs. The whole batting line-up soon crumbled against the Gloucestershire bowlers but the brilliant efforts of Will Seed(82 off 49) helped the hosts in putting up a decent fight. As far as the bowling is concerned, Ryan Higgins and David Payne shined for the visitors as they picked up 3 and 2 wickets at an economy of 11.8 and 8.2 respectively. This resulted in them clinching the match by 11 runs.

Babar Azam’s struggles continue

Babar Azam had joined the Somerset Club after captaining his national team Pakistan against England in a three-match T20I series which had resulted in a draw. The swashbuckling batsman had played his first match of the T20 Blast 2020 against Worcestershire on September 3. Though he was the top run-scorer in last season’s competition, hitting 578 runs for the same team, the batsman has failed to make a mark this year so far.

In the last match, he had easily lost his wicket to left-arm pacer David Payne when he was playing at 10 off 17 balls. Babar was also seen struggling against Payne for whatever time he was there at the crease. Seeing this disappointing performance by the exemplary batsman, the twitter handle of Gloucestershire took a friendly jibe on him.

Sharing a small clip of the Babar’s performance against Payne, Gloucestershire trolled the Pakistan Stalwart saying that the rankings doesn’t matter. Notably, Azam is ranked second in the ICC’s T20I rankings while Payne is yet to make his international debut. They tweeted, “Rankings don’t matter on the pitch. @DavidPayne_14 vs @babarazam258.”

Rankings don't matter on the pitch 🤷‍♂️@DavidPayne_14 🆚 @babarazam258

1️⃣⏺⏺1️⃣⏺⏺⏺⏺4️⃣❌#GoGlos 💛🖤 pic.twitter.com/QyFzijc6er

— Gloucestershire Cricket🏏 (@Gloscricket) September 14, 2020