Pakistan star batter Babar Azam's innings of 64 in 90 balls against New Zealand in Champions Trophy opener left several former cricketers baffled.

Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif has come down hard on the right-hander, calling his batting style outdated and reminiscent of the 1980s.

He felt that Babar's approach, which included milking runs in the middle overs and hitting only two boundaries against part-time spinners, is not suited to modern cricket.

"Babar still plays ODI cricket from 1980s. Just two boundaries against part-time spinners, milking runs in middle overs. This doesn't work in modern cricket," he wrote on X.

Centuries from Will Young and Tom Latham, combined with a strong bowling performance powered New Zealand beat Pakistan by 60 runs in the inaugural match of the event at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi.

Chasing a target of 321, Pakistan struggled to gain momentum, losing wickets at regular intervals.

Babar scored 64 runs off 90 balls at a strike rate of 71.11 while chasing a target of 321. He and Saud Shakeel opened the innings for Pakistan after their regular opener, Fakhar Zaman, was forced to sit out for at least 25 minutes due to leaving the field during Pakistan's bowling.

As soon as Babar Azam completed his fifty in 81 balls at a strike rate of 61.72, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin sarcastically trolled Pakistan star batter. Taking to his X handle (formerly Twitter), veteran Indian spinner wrote that the Azam's slow fifty contrasts with Salman Agha's aggressive batting is a depiction of 'the tortoise and rabbit story'. 

"Babar's journey to 50 coupled with Salman Ali Agha's batting has to be the best depiction of " The Tortoise and Rabbit story." the 38-year-old wrote." "The 50 I hope will come soon enough," he added.

Former Pakistan captain and fast bowling great Waqar Younis has lambasted Babar Azam and team's top-order batters for their crushing defeat on Wednesday. 

"When he plays well, there's no better sight, simple as that. But if you are going to take 90 balls to make 60 then you are going to lose more games," Younis said on Sports Central's show Dressing Room. "That is what happened. Even when he was opening in T20Is, we were screaming about it that he and Rizwan are making fifties each but we were not reaching the winning score."