Babar Azam: “It might take some time to regain the rhythm, but the base is there, and inshallah (God willing) I will be the same Babar Azam you saw a few weeks ago”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Pakistan batsman and T20 captain Babar Azam has admitted that he may be a bit “rusty” when cricket resumes after the coronavirus pandemic passes.

But, while he said it “might take some time to regain the rhythm”, he promised to do his best to “be the same Babar Azam you saw a few weeks ago”.

Azam has been in red-hot form recently, especially in Test cricket, as in the two-Test series against Australia last year, he accumulated 210 runs, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 52.50.

Azam made a superb 104 in Brisbane and followed that up with a brilliant 97 in the second Test in Adelaide.

He followed that up with 262 runs, which included two centuries, at an average of 262 in the two-Test series against Sri Lanka.

Azam scored an unbeaten 102 in the first Test in Rawalpindi, while he made 100 not out in the second Test in Karachi.

In Pakistan’s most recent Test match against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, Azam struck a career-best 143.

The 25-year-old continued to impress in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he was the highest run-scorer with 345 runs in 10 games for the Karachi Kings at an average of 49.28 and a strike-rate of 123.65.

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“If the break goes on, it can make me rusty, but you can’t forget your basics,” Azam told ESPNcricinfo as quoted by Cricket Pakistan. “It might take some time to regain the rhythm, but the base is there, and inshallah (God willing) I will be the same Babar Azam you saw a few weeks ago.”

Azam also revealed that a “good performance” doesn’t satisfy him anymore. Instead, it invigorates him to do better and take his game to new heights.

“I used to become complacent easily if I performed well. I used to have a negative thought process and that’s the area I realised I had to cover,” he said. “Now a good performance doesn’t make me happy, instead I push myself to go further and try to expand my game.

“It’s easy to perform, go back, and be happy. But now I have told myself that whatever I do is for the team, and that is more relevant and important. My work isn’t done if I score runs. If you perform in a win, it actually makes you happier inside.”

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