Nasser Hussain: “You won’t realise how good Babar Azam is until he’s gone because he is that much of a special talent”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former England captain Nasser Hussain said people won’t realise just how good Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is until he retires and is no longer playing international cricket.
Azam has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer over the last few years and currently leads them in all three formats.
However, with the national team having endured a tough home season recently, many individuals have been directing their anger and disappointment towards the 28-year-old, criticising his captaincy and batting.
But, Hussain has come to the defence of Azam, saying he is such a “special talent” as he gets the job done for the men in green time and time again despite carrying an unbelievable amount of pressure on his shoulders.
“You won’t realise how good Babar Azam is until he’s gone because he is that much of a special talent,” he told Cricwick as quoted by NDTV.
Azam is now leading the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he has made 416 runs in nine matches, which includes a century and four fifties, at an average of 52 and a strike-rate of 146.47.
The team have won four out of the nine games they have played.
Their next assignment will be a clash against Islamabad United on Sunday.
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