Mohammad Asif: “I selected Babar Azam in the trials after he faced two balls only, you can ask his father that I picked Babar in [the] ZTBL trials”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former pace bowler Mohammad Asif said people can go ask Babar Azam’s father about how he selected the Pakistan captain in the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) trials after only two balls.
Asif noted he was so impressed with Azam’s potential that he immediately knew he was destined for greatness.
The 29-year-old has broken numerous records in his career and has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer in all three formats for the last few years.
“I selected Babar Azam in the trials after he faced two balls only, you can ask his father that I picked Babar in [the] ZTBL trials,” Asif said in a space session on X, formerly known as Twitter, as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam is currently leading the men in green in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup and has scored 216 runs in seven matches, which includes three fifties, at an average of 30.85.
Pakistan won their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four games in a row to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
They finally secured a much-needed win when they defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in Kolkata.
With their World Cup semi-final hopes still alive, Pakistan will be seeking to secure another victory when they take on New Zealand on November 4 in Bengaluru.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali