Pakistan captain Babar Azam: “People have high expectations from me but this does not put me under pressure as I use it to build my confidence”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has made it clear that he is not fazed by people’s high expectations of him and instead uses it “to build my confidence”.
Azam has been in sensational form as of late as he made scores of 19, 77 not out and 125 in the ODI series against Zimbabwe, and followed it up by making 82 and 51 in the first two T20 Internationals. He didn’t bat in the third match of the series.
He continued to shine in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) playoffs as he scored 65 in the Qualifier and 63 not out in the final to lead the Karachi Kings to their first-ever title.
Azam will now be expected to lead by example as captain and the team’s star batsman during the tour of New Zealand.
Staying on the topic of the captaincy, Azam, who now leads Pakistan in all three formats, insisted that being skipper won’t have a negative impact on his batting.
“People have high expectations from me but this does not put me under pressure as I use it to build my confidence,” he told Cricket Pakistan. “Also, I don’t think [the] burden of captaincy will affect my batting because I try to keep both things separate.”
Pakistan will play three T20 Internationals and two Tests in New Zealand, with the series beginning on December 18 and concluding on January 7.
[Total_Soft_Poll id=”5″]