Babar Azam: “I hope he keeps playing like this”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Babar Azam, the Pakistan cricket team captain, said he doesn’t want top order batsman Saim Ayub’s dominant streak to end.
Ayub was a force to be reckoned with during the 2023 Pakistan Super League (PSL) as he smashed 341 runs in 12 matches for the Peshawar Zalmi, which included five half-centuries, at an average of 28.41 and a strike-rate of 165.53.
Given that Azam captained the Zalmi in PSL 8, he got to watch the 21-year-old pummel the opposition over and over again.
Following PSL 8, Ayub got the chance to represent Pakistan in their T20I series against Afghanistan and New Zealand.
In the eight T20Is he has played to date, the Karachi-born batsman has accumulated 123 runs at an average of 17.57 and a strike-rate of 123.
Since Ayub plays an aggressive brand of cricket, Azam wants him to maintain it and post big scores in the future.
“I hope he keeps playing like this,” he was quoted as saying by respected journalist Saj Sadiq on Twitter.
Pakistan are currently taking on Sri Lanka in a two-Test series and lead 1-0 after winning the first Test in Galle by four wickets.
The second Test will get underway on July 24 in Colombo.
Pakistan Squad for Sri Lanka Test Series:Â Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc & wk), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Muhammad Huraira, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood