Mohammad Yousuf: “He is the key player of our team”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Mohammad Yousuf, the former batting coach, said there is no doubt that captain Babar Azam is the “key player” in the Pakistan team.
The men in green rely heavily on Azam to score runs in all three formats and he has continued to do just this for the last few years.
It was no different story in the recent five-match ODI series against New Zealand as the 28-year-old led from the front with the bat once again, scoring 276 runs, which included a century and two fifties, at an average of 55.20.
“He is the key player of our team,” Yousuf told Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently led Pakistan to a 2-0 win in their two-Test series against Sri Lanka, where he scored 76 runs at an average of 25.33.
The men in green will now face Afghanistan in a three-match ODI series, which will be played in Sri Lanka from August 22 to 26.
After that, they will jump straight into the Asia Cup, which will be held in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from August 30 to September 17.
Pakistan Squad for Afghanistan ODI Series and 2023 Asia Cup:Â Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel (Afghanistan series only), Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr