Ricky Ponting: “The great players are also very strong mentally”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Australia captain Ricky Ponting said he sees incredible mental strength in Pakistan skipper Babar Azam whenever he comes out to the crease to bat.
This attribute is one of the reasons why he has elevated himself to be among the greatest players in the game today.
Azam has been on a run-scoring frenzy lately and continued that trend in his most recent assignment, which was the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he captained the Peshawar Zalmi.
The 28-year-old finished as the 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.
“The great players are also very strong mentally,” Ponting said while speaking on The ICC Review.
Azam was not part of Pakistan’s squad during their 2-1 T20I series loss to Afghanistan in Sharjah as he was given some time off to rest.
He returned for the limited overs series against New Zealand, where he scored 130 runs in five T20Is, which included a century, at an average of 43.33 and a strike-rate of 146.06.
He followed that up with 276 runs in the five-match ODI series, which included a hundred and two half-centuries, at an average of 55.20.