'Pakistan is Jail', IPL commentator opens up on painful days following Babar Azam remarks

Add as a preferred source on Google

IPL commentator and former New Zealand player Simon Doull has opened up on his tumultuous stay in Pakistan and has compared the country with jail in a recent interview.

Doull, who also works as a commentator in the PSL, had some unpleasant memories in Pakistan following his remarks on Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam.

His criticism of Azam led him to face a lot of mental trauma in the country. Doull recently revealed his days in Pakistan following the controversy and said he had to live without food in fear of getting physically harmed.

"Living in Pakistan is like living in jail. I was not allowed to go out as Babar Azam fans were waiting for me. And I stayed without food for many days," Doull said while speaking to Geo News.

"Even I was mentally tortured, but by the grace of God, I somehow escaped," he added.

Doull criticized Babar Azam in PSL

Simon Doull had criticized Babar Azam in Peshawar's PSL match against Quetta Gladiators. In that match, Azam scored 115 runs off 65 balls, but took 14 balls to get to 100 from 83. Peshawar lost the match with 10 balls to spare and Doull was not amused by Babar's batting.

"Rather than putting the team first... the last little while, that's all that been happening. Rather than looking for boundaries, still, so much firepower to come. Hundreds are brilliant, stats are great, but it has to be team first," Doull said on-air.

His comments angered the Babar Azam fanatics in Pakistan who reportedly wanted to physically harm the Kiwi commentator.

The 53-year-old also criticised Virat Kohli recently in the IPL. The RCB batter angered Doull in their match against Lucknow Super Giants.

Kohli took 10 balls to reach his 50 from 42 runs against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). LSG won the match in the last ball and Doull was again vocal against the RCB batter.

"From 42 to 50, he took 10 balls. He is concerned about his personal milestones. I don't think there's room for that in this game anymore," he said.