Misbah-ul-Haq: “I think he will be key especially with this confidence. Hopefully he does well, it will be very important for Pakistan”
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Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq has pointed out that if batsman Babar Azam can play long innings during the upcoming Test series against Australia, it will boost Pakistan’s chances of winning.
With Pakistan never having won a Test series in Australia, Misbah pointed out that Azam will be “key” if the national team are to make history Down Under.
Azam, 25, has been in red-hot form as of late as he scored 115 runs in the three-match Twenty20 series against Australia, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 57.50 and a strike-rate of 138.55.
He followed that up with an unbeaten 157, which came off 197 balls and included 24 boundaries, in the practice game against Australia A in Perth and a 66-ball 63, which included nine boundaries and a six, against the Cricket Australia XI.
“He is very important. I think how he is playing right now, the most important thing as a batsman I think is how confident you are,” Misbah was quoted as saying by PakPassion. “Especially after South Africa, the type of innings he played on those difficult pitches in the series Pakistan played there – he played good attacking cricket and after that he’s a totally changed batsman.
“I think the conditions here for batting are much better than they were over there [in South Africa] and at the moment how he has batted in the two practice matches, the T20s and even how he is batting in the nets, you can see the confidence and technically he seems very improved. I think he will be key especially with this confidence. Hopefully he does well, it will be very important for Pakistan.
“I think there is evidence that the pitch was very difficult for our three-day game. The bowling was very good, almost the top four bowlers playing for Australia A. So I think it was a bit of both there, [Babar] played good shots against the bad balls and where he had to respect the bowlers he also did that. You can see a lot of maturity in his batting, it’s not all aggression, aggression, aggression but it’s quite a balanced approach. The type of long innings he played, he is ready to play that sort of innings in Test matches.”
The Test series between Australia and Pakistan will begin on November 21 in Brisbane.
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