Gautam Gambhir: “He has to score runs and make his team win because if he scored 50 off 60 or 70 balls or scored 80 off 120 balls, there is no use”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India opening batsman Gautam Gambhir has given a brutally honest assessment of ex-Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s batting, saying “there is no use” if he scores “50 off 60 or 70 balls” or “80 off 120 balls.”
Gambhir noted that Azam needs to pick up the scoring rate and convert his starts into centuries so that he leads the men in green to victory.
During the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, Azam reached the 50-run mark on four occasions, but failed to push on and get a hundred each time.
Gambhir pointed out that this is something the 29-year-old needs to work on as it could end up hurting Pakistan in the future.
“He has to score runs and make his team win because if he scored 50 off 60 or 70 balls or scored 80 off 120 balls, there is no use,” he told Star Sports as quoted by NDTV.
In the World Cup, Azam amassed 320 runs in nine matches at an average of 40.
Pakistan won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite ending their four-game losing streak with back-to-back wins over Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to advance to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign on a sour note as England thrashed them by 93 runs.
Having stepped down as captain in all three formats after the World Cup, Azam will now represent Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia, which gets underway on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi
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