Saeed Ajmal: “For as long as I played cricket, I always wished to have a batter like Babar Azam in the team that could stay on the crease and score runs patiently”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Saeed Ajmal, the iconic spinner, said Pakistan needed a batsman like captain Babar Azam during his playing days.
He noted that the team lacked a player who “could stay on the crease and score runs patiently”.
Azam has forged a reputation for himself as one of the best batsmen in the world since he scores runs regularly and in all three formats.
Recently, he made 76 runs at an average of 25.33 in Pakistan’s 2-0 Test series win over Sri Lanka.
“For as long as I played cricket, I always wished to have a batter like Babar Azam in the team that could stay on the crease and score runs patiently, so that bowlers can get a slight edge or at least something to defend, let alone bowl aggressively. However, at that time, our bowlers were pretty weak. Now when the batting is strong, [the] bowling has been feeble lately,” Ajmal told Cricket Pakistan.
Azam is now leading the men in green in their three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, which is being held in Sri Lanka.
Pakistan won the first ODI by 142 runs, but Azam failed to have an impact as he was dismissed for a duck.
Following this, the men in green will play in the Asia Cup, which will take place 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