Babar Azam: “His career has been inspiring for us, and all the youngsters as well. When I joined the team, he was one of the senior players and he gave me confidence. I learned a lot from him”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said he learned a lot from veteran batsman Azhar Ali, who recently announced his retirement from Test cricket.
Azhar had been a regular member of the Test side and Azam recalled how the 37-year-old instilled confidence within him when he first joined the team.
Having enjoyed a fabulous career, the 28-year-old said Azhar is an inspiration for him and a lot of other players who seek to spend a long time playing at the highest level.
“His career has been inspiring for us, and all the youngsters as well. When I joined the team, he was one of the senior players and he gave me confidence. I learned a lot from him,” Azam was quoted as saying by Cricwick.
The current ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year is now captaining the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
He moved to the Zalmi from the Karachi Kings in return for Haider Ali and Shoaib Malik.
Not surprisingly, the Zalmi began their PSL 8 campaign with a clash against the Kings on Tuesday.
In that match, Azam hammered 68 runs off 46 balls, which included seven boundaries and a six, to lead the Zalmi to a two-run win.
They will be in action again on February 17 when they take on the Multan Sultans.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 8:Â Babar Azam, Rovman Powell, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (Sri Lanka), Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, Arshad Iqbal, Danish Aziz, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Saim Ayub, Salman Irshad, Usman Qadir, Haseebullah Khan, Sufyan Muqeem, James Neesham, Khurram Shahzad, Haris Sohail and Richard Gleeson