Shahid Afridi: “When he changes gears, it is not his game. When he tries to hit balls out of the boundary, he gets caught on the line. It is not his strength, he is a touch player”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Iconic six-hitter Shahid Afridi has admitted that former captain Babar Azam cannot change gears when batting as he keeps getting out.
Afridi noted that the 29-year-old “is a touch player” and needs to take his time to score runs.
This has been one of the main criticisms Azam has faced as many have accused him of batting too slowly and putting unnecessary pressure on the middle order.
Afridi added that if the Lahore-born batsman manages to face 60 balls, he can’t “score runs at a fast pace” after that, whereas other elite players like India’s Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma find it a lot easier to do so.
“When he changes gears, it is not his game. When he tries to hit balls out of the boundary, he gets caught on the line. It is not his strength, he is a touch player. If you ask him to score runs at a fast pace after 60 balls, he probably does not have the ability that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have,” he was quoted as saying by Geo Super.
Azam resigned as Pakistan captain after the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he made 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
The men in green kicked off their campaign with successive wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four straight to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite bouncing back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to make it through to the semi-finals.
Pakistan ended their campaign on a sour note as England pummelled them by 93 runs.
Azam will now feature in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which starts 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