Babar Azam: “I always aim to try and perform well in every single game. The team demands me [to] perform and deliver a win. So, I try to rise to their expectations every time I hit the ground”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said the team constantly demands that he perform with the bat and “deliver a win”.
The 28-year-old, who is constantly under pressure to lead from the front, pointed out that he always tries to give his best in every game.
Knowing people’s high expectations of him, Azam tries to keep meeting or surpassing it “every time I hit the ground”.
“I always aim to try and perform well in every single game,” he told ICC Digital as quoted by Cricwick. “The team demands me [to] perform and deliver a win. So, I try to rise to their expectations every time I hit the ground.”
Azam recently captained Pakistan in their home series against New Zealand, where he was in great form with the bat. Despite this, the men in green didn’t get the results they would have liked as the two-Test series ended as a 0-0 draw, while New Zealand won the three-match ODI series 2-1.
He amassed 226 runs in the Test series, which included a top score of 161, at an average of 56.50.
Azam followed that up with 149 runs in the ODI series, which included two fifties, at an average of 49.66.
With Pakistan having endured a terrible home season that also included being whitewashed 3-0 in their Test series against England, there has been growing speculation that Azam will be lose the captaincy in one or more formats.
Top order batsman Shan Masood’s name has been mentioned as a potential successor in ODIs, but it remains to be seen what the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decide to do.
Azam is now captaining the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he has amassed 178 runs in six matches, which includes two fifties, at an average of 35.60 and a strike-rate of 128.05.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 8: Babar Azam, Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Haris, Aamir Jamal, Salman Irshad, Tom-Kohler Cadmore, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Rovman Powell, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Danish Aziz, Arshad Iqbal, Saim Ayub, Usman Qadir, Suifyan Muqeem, Haseebullah, Jimmy Neesham, Khurram Shahzad, Haris Sohail, Richard Gleeson (partial replacement for Rovman Powell), Peter Hatzoglou (partial replacement for Mujeeb ur Rahman), Shakib Al Hasan (available for playoffs), Azmatullah Omarzai
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