Pakistan captain Babar Azam: “I did not have confidence in my innings until I played a good cover drive”
Image courtesy of: Pakistan Cricket Board
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has revealed that during his Under-15 days, he “did not have confidence in my innings until I played a good cover drive”.
This comes after Azam revealed that he copied his elegant cover drive from iconic South Africa batsman AB de Villiers.
The 26-year-old noted that he struggled a lot with his cover drive when he was younger, but worked hard to improve it and make it so silky smooth.
“In under-15, this helped me a lot because I did not have confidence in my innings until I played a good cover drive. I have been out many times and a lot of seniors told me to not try it so much early on otherwise you will get out and I struggled a lot with it,” Azam told Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq in a video for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“But when you naturally like something, it is hard to let go of it. I overcame it by making my cover drive better. I gained more command over it by trying to improve it.
“I still keep practicing it and try to carry it forward. I am trying to improve my game day by day. When I get stuck on something, I try to work on it immediately and overcome it.”
Azam has featured in 31 Tests and scored 2,167 runs, which includes five centuries and 16 fifties, at an average of 44.22.
He has also played 80 ODIs and accumulated 3,808 runs, which includes 13 hundreds and 17 half-centuries, at an average of 55.93.
As for his T20 International career, Azam has amassed 1,940 runs in 51 games, which includes a century and 17 fifties, at an average of 48.50.
The 26-year-old made scores of 103, 31 and 94 in the three-match ODI series against South Africa, giving him a total of 228 runs at an average of 76.
As for the T20 series, he made 14 and 50 in the first two matches before hammering a career-best 122, which came off 59 balls and included 15 boundaries and four sixes, in the third T20 International.
In the fourth game, he was dismissed for 24 and thus finished with 210 runs in four matches at an average of 52.50 and a strike-rate of 143.83.
Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1 and the T20 series 3-1.
They will now play three T20 Internationals and two Tests against Zimbabwe, with the T20 series beginning on Wednesday.