Mohammad Hafeez: “He has to improve his game, in terms of aggression”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
New Pakistan team director Mohammad Hafeez said he wants to see more aggression from former captain Babar Azam when he is batting.
Azam has repeatedly been criticised for batting too slow and putting pressure on the middle order.
Hafeez pointed out that this must change as the 29-year-old can’t keep getting away with wasting so many deliveries to score his runs.
“He has to improve his game, in terms of aggression,” the 43-year-old told PTV Sports as quoted by NDTV.
Azam resigned as captain in all three formats after the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he scored 320 runs in nine matches, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
Pakistan began by beating the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before suffering four successive defeats at the hands of India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite bouncing back to take down Bangladesh and New Zealand, they were unable to progress to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign on a sour note as England demolished them by 93 runs.
Azam’s next assignment will be Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which will start on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series:Â 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