Umar Gul: “It’s evident that he leads with authority”
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Umar Gul has said it is evident in his mind that Pakistan captain Babar Azam leads the national team “with authority.”
Azam has continued to be Pakistan’s star batsman despite having the pressure of captaining the team on his shoulders.
There had been a lot of talk about the 28-year-old’s future as captain earlier in 2023, with rumours surfacing that a split captaincy model could be adopted.
Despite all the talk, the Lahore-born batsman has gone about his business as usual and continued to pile on the runs.
In Gul’s mind, this is a clear indicator that Azam is a strong captain as he doesn’t let speculation and background noise faze him.
“It’s evident that he leads with authority,” he told Cricket Pakistan. “As a captain, if you are dominating and your team’s performance is exceptional, there is no doubt that you can consider yourself a dominant captain.”
Azam was recently in action during Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka, where he made 76 runs at an average of 25.33.
He then proceeded to score 113 runs in the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 37.66.
Recently, he led Pakistan in the Asia Cup and accumulated 207 runs in five matches, which included a top score of 151, at an average of 51.75.
The men in green kicked off their campaign with a 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was washed out.
Having progressed to the Super Fours, they continued to dominate as they defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets.
However, everything fell apart for Pakistan from here as they lost to India by 228 runs and Sri Lanka by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method, which led to them being eliminated from the Asia Cup.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir