Mohammad Azharuddin: “Overall Babar Azam’s performance is not affected much due to leadership in all three formats”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India batsman Mohammad Azharuddin said Babar Azam has continued to perform well despite captaining Pakistan in all three formats.
Azam is one of the world’s elite batsmen as he has regularly scored runs at home and abroad.
In the three-Test series against England, he amassed 348 runs, which included a century and three fifties, at an average of 58.
He followed that up with 226 runs in the two-Test series against New Zealand, which included a top score of 161, at an average of 56.50.
As for the three-match ODI series against the Black Caps, Azam accumulated 149 runs, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 49.66.
“Overall Babar Azam’s performance is not affected much due to leadership in all three formats,” Azharuddin told Cricket Pakistan.
In the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where Azam captained the Peshawar Zalmi, the 28-year-old was the second-highest run-scorer with 522 runs in 11 matches, which included a century and five fifties, at an average of 52.20 and a strike-rate of 145.40.
He was rested for Pakistan’s recent three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, which the men in green lost 2-1.
He is now in action for the men in green’s ongoing limited overs series against New Zealand, where he has amassed 111 runs in three T20Is, which includes a century, at an average of 55.50 and a strike-rate of 156.33.
Pakistan are 2-1 up right now and have the chance to clinch the series in the fourth T20I on Thursday in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan squad for T20I series against New Zealand: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Zaman Khan
Pakistan squad for ODI series against New Zealand:Â Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haris Sohail, Ihsanullah, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Usama Mir